


Try Try Try

by WeBuiltThePyramids



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, F/M, Let's Get Pregnant, Not your traditional babyfic, Romance, Some Quintis and Callie, Waige - Freeform, smut in some chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-01 12:58:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 29,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11486871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeBuiltThePyramids/pseuds/WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: Considering Paige’s first pregnancy was unplanned, neither she nor Walter anticipated any difficulty expanding their family.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been outlining this fic for what seems like forever, but I didn't want to post it until I was done with Here To Stay. But then I needed an emotional break from Here To Stay, and none of the oneshots I want to write are 'working' for me (aka it's horrible writer's block). This was the only other thing my brain wants to work on. So I'm going to try and take on the task of publishing multiple multi – chapter fics at the same time.

It was a hot night - even for Southern California in the middle of the summer. Paige reached into her purse, fishing around for a hair tie. Locating one, she pulled her hair up into a high ponytail, sighing in relief when her neck was exposed to the air.

One would think that it'd be cooler at the beach, but the ocean air wasn't helping much. But the heat and mugginess wasn't stopping Walter and Ralph. They were less than fifty yards from her, alternating between peering into a telescope and entering data into Walter's laptop. It was an important night for astronomy, Paige knew, and she felt bad that she couldn't remember exactly what it was they were observing. But when Walter and Ralph told her they were doing something together, she got so focused on that they were doing it together that she usually forgot the specifics of what  _it_  was.

She loved Walter for reasons she couldn't even begin to count. But she'd be lying if she said the way he was with her son wasn't one of the biggest reasons she fell for him. After so many years of Ralph lacking a second parent, Walter had come along and been everything the boy had always longed for. The moment that Paige chose to have Ralph, she gave up the option to only consider herself when looking for a partner. To find someone who was so right for both her and her son – two very different people – had once seemed so impossible. And now she sat on a beach towel watching that person help Ralph study…whatever was going on in space. Paige didn't think it mattered that she didn't remember what it was. They knew. And they were having a great time. And that's what mattered.

Ralph said something to Walter that Paige couldn't make out. The older genius smiled, ruffled Ralph's hair, and the boy laughed. Paige's heart thumped in her chest. She had heard the mother of one of Ralph's friends lamenting just the other day about how her son backed away from her touch now. Ralph was starting to get annoyed by Paige tousling his hair. But despite her feeling like she should be jealous that he still let Walter do it, it actually made her feel warm inside.

The man she first knew as "the Wi – Fi guy" had become her and Ralph's everything.

* * *

 

Walter used to think that the company of other people wasn't what true contentment was about. Contentment was solving a problem. Contentment was being successful, creating something that only his brain could manifest. He and Collins used to hole up and work for weeks on something without so much as a casual pleasantry passing between them. Any conversation was solely about the matter at hand.

But as he'd told Collins after his attempted escape following the Toby kidnapping, he had gained humanity in the past few years. When he had told Paige at Happy and Toby's wedding that every success, everything that used to fulfill him completely, felt empty if she wasn't there to share it with him, it was as open and honest as he'd ever been. And while he would have been out observing the comets tonight even if he had never met her and Ralph, he knew that observing them with Ralph had made the experience so much better than if he had done it alone.

And it wasn't that he'd had the experience with another person. It was Ralph specifically. The boy and his mother had such a hold on his heart and although he'd never liked relying on other people, especially not emotionally, he had no objection to that. He was completely happy with it.

He and Paige weren't living together – not officially, anyway. He spent most nights at the Dineen condo. A good portion of his clothes were there and whenever he did spend a night at the garage, Ralph usually texted asking where he was. There hadn't been a conversation about them co – habituating long term, but even Walter wasn't so oblivious that he didn't know that's essentially what was happening. He wondered if Paige had realized. When someone moved in without a discussion, it was, for obvious reasons, usually a lot clearer to the person who had done the moving.

Walter heard the unmistakable creak of Paige's bathroom door opening, but he hadn't realized how little time had passed until she appeared in the living room, still in the clothes that she'd worn to the beach and with her hair completely dry. He closed his laptop, already rising to his feet. "Something wrong with the shower?"

Paige shook her head, a small smile on her face. "No. I just…uh…"

Walter felt a twinge of nerves. Maybe she had noticed that he had essentially moved in. Maybe she was unhappy about that. Maybe she thought it was a calculated move – maybe she felt he was intentionally trying to push the relationship farther without talking to her about it. They had been doing so much better with communication since they got together, but… He cleared his throat. "Is…is everything okay?"

"Yeah, oh yeah," Paige said quickly, nodding. Walter noticed she was wringing her hands. "I, the shower is fine, I just…I was thinking about something today while you and Ralph were doing your thing and it wasn't the first time I'd thought about it and I want to talk to you about it and I realized as I was going in to get ready to shower that I probably should stop putting it off and just come out with it, so…" She stopped for a breath, and froze, looking at him for a moment before clearing her throat and gesturing to the couch. "Sit?"

Walter lowered himself back onto the cushion and pushed his closed laptop farther onto the coffee table. She sat next to him, her knees pointing toward him, and clasped her hands in her lap.

_If you aren't comfortable with me spending so much time here, I can spend more nights at the garage. I'm sorry if I came off as being presumptuous._

But what if she just wanted to make their relationship more official? What if she wasn't upset about the fact that they were essentially cohabitating?

_You know I'm never happier than when I'm with you._

"Walter, I want a baby."

It was a simple sentence, a short one of just five words, but Walter managed to respond in even fewer. "What?"


	2. Chapter 2

" _Walter, I want a baby._ "

As soon as his one – word response rushed from between his lips Walter wished he'd reacted better. She shifted uncomfortably, dropping her eyes down to her knees. When she lifted her head again, he wordlessly extended his hand, and she immediately curled her fingers around it. "I shouldn't have led with that, huh?"

"I – I…I just wasn't expecting…that. You seemed so happy. With the way things were. Are you not happy? Have I been doing something wrong?"

She gave a slightly amused smile as she shook her head. "I wish you wouldn't worry about that all the time. You ought to know by now how wonderful I think you are." Leaning over, Paige brushed her lips over his. "That's why I want another child. They always talk about your biological clock going off when you're in your thirties and haven't had kids yet. They don't talk about how that can happen when you're already a parent. But…" She shook her head again, squeezing his hand. "But everything with us is so, so good, and…" she looked down, and then back up at him. "Have you ever thought about it? Us having a child?"

Walter shifted his weight.

He'd thought about it. Of course he'd thought about it. Ever since that case, barely a year after meeting her, when she had to wear a fake pregnant belly to smuggle equipment into a building, he'd thought about it. Of course, then he had tried to push those thoughts out of his head. Then, he still was trying to convince himself that love wasn't real, that what he felt for her was platonic or inappropriate or something else. Then, the thinking about it usually happened in his dreams, when he didn't have enough control of his brain to stop it.

But since they'd gotten together, he hadn't thought about it. Living a life where he was able to love her the way he wanted, and Ralph too, gave him a feeling that he could only describe as complete and utter happiness. He wasn't craving more.

But…

"I s – suppose that I have, that I have. Thought about it." He looked down at their hands. "I suppose it's natural to think about it."

She nodded. "Yeah. I think so." Biting her lip, Paige was quiet for a moment, then took a breath. "A baby changes a lot. Even if you already are a parent. And if you don't want to, I don't want to either. I really feel like…I mean, Ralph was unplanned, but I've always felt like if you  _are_  going to try for a baby, both parents should want to. But, uh, if you do want to…then I do, too." When Walter didn't respond right away, Paige blurted, "but you don't have to tell me right now. I just…I just wanted you to know what I was thinking. Because open communication, you know, that's important, and if I don't tell you what I'm thinking about then I'd be asking you to read my mind and…"

Walter scooted closer and put his mouth on hers, gently drawing her lower lip between his. She shifted her weight, placing her hands on his arms as she kissed him back, pushing her mouth against his. "I love you, Walter," she whispered when their lips parted, resting her forehead against his.

"Well, that's good," he joked, "since you're soliciting me for unprotected intercourse."

Paige snorted, leaning back slightly and grinning at him. "I love how I can never tell if you're going to be sappy or funny."

"I'm uh, keeping some of the mystery alive," he said, a small smirk on his face.

Paige giggled, leaning forward to kiss him again. Walter tugged her closer, closing his eyes as she deepened the kiss. He let his arms slide around her, feeling the warmth of her body against him. Paige made a tiny sound in the back of her throat, putting a hand up on the side of his face. "Walter."

"Hmmm?"

"Mmmm." She pulled away lightly and drew her lower lip under. "I can't get pregnant on my period."

"People can get pregnant at any point in their cycle," Walter said. "There are, of course, points where you are more fertile than others, but technically it's possible to…" He stopped when she put a finger on his lips. "You know that."

Paige nodded, amused. "And you know that while it's perfectly okay, it weirds me out, and we're not doing it tonight."

"Alright." Walter shrugged nonchalantly. "You're the one who wants the baby." He grinned when Paige reached for a throw pillow and whacked him in the face. He let himself fall on his side on the couch, immediately regretting it when Paige climbed on top of him and slid her hands down to his stomach. She'd discovered in the first months of their relationship that he was ticklish. Walter wiggled beneath her, trying to push her off of him without knocking her off into the coffee table. Eventually, Paige relented – Walter supposed it was his lucky day that Ralph was already asleep and Paige was always incredibly paranoid about waking him – and relaxed on him, smiling. Walter shifted onto his back and slid his arms around her, linking his fingers at the small of her back.

"Just think," Paige said, tracing the depression in the center of his chin, "in less than a year, we're going to be snuggling our little one on this couch."

"Sleep deprived, sore, cognitive abilities at least moderately compromised…"

"Shhhh." She put her finger to his lips again. "Trust me. Every moment of that is worth it. When they smile at you, or fall asleep on you, or curl their fingers around one of yours. You won't care at all about how exhausted you are, or how you don't have as much time for projects as you used to. You won't care one bit. I can promise you that."

Walter lifted a hand, brushing her hair back behind her ear. "I want all of that."

"Yeah?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

Paige smiled. "Good." She slid both her hands to the sides of his face, leaning her nose down to nuzzle his. "I love you."

"You're saying that a lot tonight," he teased.

She tipped her head to the side playfully. "Maybe I'm just hoping you'll say it back."

"Too much funny, not enough sappy?" Walter said, raising an eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes. "Thankfully getting pregnant will be easier than pulling these words out of you is tonight."

She giggled, and Walter smiled at her, relenting. "I love you, Paige."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is possibly my final update to anything until the end of the month – I am visiting my grandparents this weekend and then on Tuesday I leave for California for a week – Comic Con, baby!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know I said I wouldn't be updating until I got back from SDCC, but guess who was using her laptop in the car on my drive up to my grandfolks' house this weekend? Oops. Nothing like writing smut in the passenger seat of a family member's car.

Part of him wondered if his openness to the idea of having a baby would fade as the days went by, but when Paige informed him that she was ready to start trying, Walter was almost surprised at how eager he was to get her alone. Not just because due to work and her squeamishness over period sex meant they hadn't had any in almost two weeks – as much as he loved intimacy with her, knowing that this was going to be the start of them taking another huge step in their lives together made him want it all the more. And now, it was finally nine o'clock, they were home from work and Ralph was spending the night at Happy and Toby's. And he was laying in her bed, ankles crossed, hands folded on his stomach, eyeing the light below the bathroom door and smiling when it went out.

Walter watched as Paige walked out of the bathroom, clad only in a baggy tee shirt, and reached into the top drawer of her dresser, pulling out a cardboard box. Walter raised his eyebrows. "Paige?"

"Hmmm," she asked absentmindedly as she pulled the flaps open.

"I realize that's how it happened with Ralph, but I am a fan of efficiency, and maximum chance for conception occurs without those."

Paige turned beat red and put a hand over her face. Shaking her head, she dropped the box of condoms back into the drawer. "Wow," she said, giving a little laugh. "Are you sure you want to have kids with me? I may really drag down their I.Q."

"Ralph turned out okay, and I have it on good authority that his father's I.Q. test came back negative."

Paige put her hands on her hips. "Ralph is still half Drew, Walter. You know I don't like you implying that half of my son is bad."

Walter opened his mouth to protest,  _it was just a joke_ or  _wow, imagine what his I.Q. could have been then_ , but decided against it. When Paige put it that way, he almost felt bad about all the times he and Toby talked down about the man with which Paige had had her longest relationship.

Almost.

"Sorry," he said, and that seemed to be good enough for her, because she smiled and crossed the room, crawling over him and smiling as she looked into his eyes. "Want to have a baby with me, Walter O'Brien?"

Walter took in a breath, giving a small nod. "Yes."

She grinned, tipping her head to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around her as she lowered her body and nestled to him. No matter how many times they were like this, Walter still marveled at how perfectly they fit against each other.

He wasn't sure how long they kissed before Paige sat up, sliding her hands down to the bottom of his nightshirt. Walter was glad that Paige enjoyed taking part in undressing him, because he found it an incredible turn on. He sat up, her in his lap, letting her work the shirt over his head. Tossing it to the side, Paige pulled off her tee shirt and pushed at Walter's chest, encouraging him to lay back against the pillows.

Walter settled back comfortably, and she leaned over him again, dropping her head to kiss his neck. He groaned quietly, reaching a hand up to tangle in her hair. She knew exactly how to kiss him. She always had. It had been amazing – and almost frightening – to him at the start, when he realized that there was so much about his own body that he didn't know. He wasn't sure if Paige somehow knew or if she was just good at finding out. He didn't suppose it really mattered.

"Take off your boxers," Paige whispered, her lips against his ear.

"You're gonna have to move," he reminded her, his voice just as low.

"Darn," she joked, dropping her lips to his neck again. Walter shuddered, the hand on her hip pressing against her skin. Their skin to skin contact and her lips on his neck had him in a state of near bliss, but he  _really_  wanted the boxers off. Gently, he put both hands on her hips and pushed lightly. She sat up, backing down to his knees, helping him work his boxers down his legs. Crawling back up, Paige leaned down to kiss him again as one hand wrapped around him, ready to guide him to her entrance.

"Mmmm." Walter ran his fingers along her hip, and Paige shifted into position, slowly lowering herself onto him and running her hand over his chest as she began to move, setting a slow, easy pace. He watched as her eyes fell closed, as her chest puffed out with a deep intake of breath. Walter slid his hands up her thighs. "That's good."

"Uh – huh," she breathed, smiling down at him. She reached over and ran a hand through his hair. "I love your curls."

"Thank you," he said. "I grow them myself."

Paige stopped thrusting, snickering, then leaned forward and kissed him, placing both hands on his neck. She circled her hips slowly, then stopped moving entirely, deepening the kiss and sliding her hands up to his hair when their lips broke apart. "Walter, I love you so much."

He sat up, wrapping his arms tightly around her and holding her close. He brushed his lips against her neck. "You're my everything," he whispered, cradling the back of her head as he touched his nose to hers.

"Good," she said, "because…" she kissed him. "Because I can't imagine doing this life without you." She kissed him again, and then shook her head slightly, letting out an embarrassed giggle. "I'm so sappy right now, I'm sorry." She brushed her hair back behind an ear. "I…it's just what we're trying to do…" she trailed off when he tucked hair behind her other ear.

"I love you."

She smiled, putting both hands on the sides of his face and resting her forehead against him as she began to thrust again. Walter kept his hips still, letting her take control. She continued the slow pace, her thumbs rubbing against his nipples and moaning quietly every so often. Walter liked when they went slow, drew every sensation out as long as possible. It was physical intimacy like he'd never known before her. It was physical intimacy like he'd never  _believed in_  before her.

Paige sank down all the way and moved her hips in circles, closing her eyes and making a quiet whimpering sound. Walter placed his hands on her hips, stilling them, then reached between them to rub her with his thumb. He heard a hissing sound as Paige drew in a breath through her teeth, and he groaned himself as she pressed down harder and rocked her hips. He applied more pressure with his thumb, circling, and she whimpered again. "Walter."

He sure enjoyed putting his hands to some other use other than coding. Paige was biting her lip, her eyes wide, a sure sign that she was close, and Walter groaned and closed his eyes when he heard a sharp sound come from her throat and seconds later felt her pulsing around him. Moving his hand away, she began to thrust again, faster now, drawing out her own pleasure and bringing him closer to his own. He followed her over the edge not a minute later, covering his face with a hand and groaning, and then they were both still. After a moment, Paige lifted off of him, dropping down on her side and resting her head on his chest, sliding her hand up to his far shoulder. She made a small whimpering noise that Walter recognized as a rare moment when emotion had completely overwhelmed her and she wasn't capable of speech. He curled his arm around her and stroked her arm as much as he could with the mobility from his wrist. "I got you, Love." He kept up the soothing motion, his other arm coming up to brush her hair back away from her face. "I got you."

"Walter," she whispered, trying to snuggle closer. He kissed her hair. They lay in silence for a few minutes and then she lifted her head, smiling. "I'd try to have some cute conversation about how maybe I just got pregnant, but you'd probably talk about how there's not a pregnancy until the fertilized egg attaches to the uterine wall and that doesn't happen right away."

"Could take days."

"Well, hey." She patted his chest and grinned. "We could have set the ball rolling, at least."

"We most certainly could have." He smiled affectionately.

"And you know what else?" She asked, a mischievous smile slowly growing on her face. "To maximize our chances of conception…we're going to have to do this a  _lot_. And I don't know about you, but I find few activities such a joy to repeat."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda really dig writing Paige as being the one who is saying the tooth rotting sweet stuff and being the one overwhelmed with emotion - or at least being every bit as an in-love mess as Walter, but trust me, this isn't all just for fluff. But they're gonna be camping on Cloud Nine for a little bit yet.


	4. Chapter 4

"It's been three days. So…I could be pregnant now."

Walter had heard her come up behind him, and he continued drying the dish in front of him as she rested her chin on his shoulder and slid her arms around him. "That is true," he said. "You could be."

She hugged him tighter. "I'm trying not to get my hopes up, I mean, sometimes it takes a couple months, but…but I'm excited. At the chance."

Walter put the dish in the drainer and placed his hands over hers, craning his neck to the side to peck her cheek. "I am, too."

She was smiling. Walter loved her smile. He'd loved it since the night he came to her apartment, to offer her the job at Scorpion, and she'd looked happy to see him when she opened the door.

"Hey, so…" Paige's voice took on a flirtatious tone. "There was a lot of garlic in that thing I ate for dinner, but if I go brush my teeth do you want to have sex?"

Walter turned around to face her, sliding his arms around her waist. "I would, uh, consider it."

She grinned, turning and darting off toward the bedroom. Walter followed her until she turned into the bathroom. Undoing the buttons on his shirt, he shrugged it off and tossed it on the chair near the bed, then climbed onto the mattress. When Paige didn't re – emerge, he sat up, then stood up, and crossed the room, peering around the bathroom door.

Paige was spitting some water into the sink, wiping her mouth and wrinkling her nose. She noticed Walter in the mirror and sighed. "Ugh, my breath is still gross."

"Your breath is fine," Walter said, placing his hands on her shoulders and trying to turn her around.

"Walter," she said, tensing up and refusing to turn.

"I kissed you all the time when we were marooned. Even though your breath smelled like fish."

"Okay, but you  _like_  fish," she said with a little laugh.

"That's true, I do," Walter admitted with a smirk. He could see her grinning through the mirror, and an idea came to mind. He required eye contact when they made love, needing that extra level of intimacy. This did limit their creativity in the bedroom, but Paige had never seemed to mind. Certainly not like she currently minded her breath.

Walter placed his hands on her hips, placing his lips against her neck. Paige smiled, closing her eyes as he moved up towards her ear. Taking the lobe in his mouth, he sucked lightly, releasing it and whispering, "God, you're irresistible."

A noise came from deep in Paige's throat, almost like a whimper, and she tipped her head back against him. Walter slid his hands around to her stomach, curling the shirt in his fingers, stepping closer so their bodies were in contact shoulders to hips. Walter continued to kiss her neck, seeing her hands gripping the sink. He slid one of his hands down to undo the button on her shorts, using his other one to fiddle with the button on his pants. His dominant hand was working on Paige's clothes, and he got her button undone first, moving the hand to finish the job on his pants when she began to wiggle out of her own clothes.

Walter kicked his pants and boxers into the corner of the bathroom, turning back to Paige to see her undoing the last button on her blouse and wiggling out of it. She was still facing the sink, and when she pushed her shorts and underwear underneath it with her foot, Walter walked back up behind her again, putting his lips back on her neck. She pushed her hips backward, grinding on him, and he closed his eyes and moaned quietly. He was almost painfully hard, and wanted nothing more than to push himself deep inside her and forget anything else existed, but he had never done so without kissing her on the mouth first, and a part of his brain was telling him that she hadn't had enough foreplay yet.

One of his hands, flat on her stomach, slid downward, and when he began to tease her with his index finger, he felt her knees buckle. "Walter," she said, pushing back against him again.

Sliding his hand a little lower, Walter teased her entrance, her arousal coating his fingers. Satisfied, he removed them, placing his hand back on her stomach and reaching down with his other one to position himself. He slid into her slowly, not used to this angle, and moved both hands to her hips to hold steady. "This okay?" He asked in a low voice.

"Mmmm hmmm." Paige's eyes were closed as she nodded. Walter kissed her neck again as he began to thrust, moving in and out of her in long, slow strokes.

"Oooh," Paige moaned, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the sink. She took in a deep breath, making the same sound as she exhaled. She did that, sometimes. Walter thought it was incredibly attractive. Gripping her hips, he began to thrust with more force, groaning at the increased sensations. He was quickly approaching his peak, she hadn't had enough time yet, oh God, this was a mistake. He slowed his pace slightly, sliding his hand down between her hips and slowly rolling her clit between his fingers.

" _Fuck_ ," Paige said, probably louder than she would have liked, dropping her head and moaning. Walter stretched his neck and kissed her back, between her shoulder blades, his hips moving more quickly again. " _God_."

" _God_ ," Walter moaned at the same time, starting to see spots in his vision. His hand worked faster, rubbing her in the vigorous way that only worked when she was close, but he still got there first, pushing all the way in and shuddering as pleasure shot through his body. His hand faltered a moment, but only that long, and in less than a minute he had Paige crying out in a way that she only did when her climax was particularly intense. Already recovering well from his own, he wrapped both arms around her, supporting her as she rode it out.

Eventually, she got her legs under her and let out a long breath, her voice airy. "Holy shit."

Walter gave a little laugh of agreement, kissing her shoulder affectionately. "You're incredible, Love."

She turned around, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Kiss me."

He raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Eh," Paige said. "If kissing a garlic mouth is really what you want to do, I suppose you've earned the right to do that."

* * *

 "Negative." Paige held the home test out, and Walter, perched next to her on the edge of the bathtub, took it. "When I got pregnant with Ralph you had to know what lines or colors meant. This is just…" Well, he could see. The word 'pregnant' was lit up in black on the display, but so was the word 'not' preceding it.

"Well," Walter said, sliding an arm around her. "It's only our first month of attempts."

"I know," she said. "I was hoping we'd be lucky, since you know, Ralph was…I wasn't trying for Ralph, but hey," she shrugged. "Oh well."

"Next month," Walter said, giving her that smile that was so laden with genuine affection that she still considered herself so lucky to be on the receiving end of. "Next month you will be."

"I like the way you think." She kissed him briefly. "How much time do we have before work?"

"Not enough," Walter said, clearly understanding what she was really asking. "We really should be leaving by the top of the hour."

"Dang," she dropped the pregnancy test in the trash can. "Well…" she dropped her voice. "When we get home? While Ralph is at his lab?"

"Uh huh?"

She smiled seductively. "I think I want you on the sofa."


	5. Chapter 5

Walter's fingers flew over the keyboard. It had been a rather harrowing case, half the team out on a Native American reservation near the Grand Canyon, and the other half working on technology in the garage. Cabe, Paige, and Happy were due back within the hour.

Now that the case was over, and Walter was finishing up some coding for a new secure website. Sylvester had gone…somewhere. Walter looked up from the screen and glanced around. His brother had hardly stopped talking during the case, and yet it had been silent long enough for the younger man to vanish and Walter hadn't noticed. He heard a sound upstairs. Ah. The mathematician was working on yet another of his projects.

Toby, walking over from where he'd been relaxing at his wife's work statsion, tossed his hat in the air and caught it. "Hey, Walt. Do you want to go down to Mitchell's? You know, for old time's sake? I feel like you and I haven't hung out as much since the missus and I settled down and you and Paige got together, and I'm sure Mitchell's is totally missing our bachelor shenanigans."

Walter hesitated, glancing over his shoulder. "Uh…" He messed with a stack of papers on his desk. "Uh…"

"Oh my God," Toby said, suddenly looking an odd mix of smug and proud.

Walter cleared his throat. "What?"

"You and Paige are trying to get pregnant, aren't you?" Toby asked.

"I – I, uh, did she tell you? N – not that that means we are, I j – I just…"

Toby folded his arms. "You two totally are."

"How on  _Earth_  did you get there?" Walter asked. "Is it…are you and Happy…"

Toby ignored the question. "I asked you if you wanted to hang out tonight and you hesitated and glanced toward Paige's desk. If you guys had a date, you could have just said so. And she's not the type of person to make you ask permission to go places with friends. Which means it has to be something that needs to be tonight and it has to be something that you and her have agreed to not tell us about. And you got a little pink in the cheeks when you hesitated and then cleared your throat, which leads into the sexy time category. Therefore, sexy time, something you haven't decided as a group to reveal yet, it's easy, you're trying to get pregnant."

There were, of course, other explanations, but that didn't change the fact that his friend was right. "I really don't think we should talk about this, Toby."

"We don't have to talk about it," the behaviorist said, holding up his hands. "Actually, I'd prefer it not get around the garage."

"Why not?"

"Eh, gossip never goes anywhere good," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "I just want to say…you guys are great together. I mean that."

Walter nodded. "Thanks, Toby. You too."

Toby furrowed his brow. "Me too, what?"

"Oh, uh. You and Happy, I mean. Great together. And all that."

"Oh. Yeah, thanks, pal." Toby gave him an amused look. "Well hey, do some business tonight, tiger."

"Don't call me that."

"Chief? Sport? Champ?"

"Stop."

Toby grinned. "Sorry. I just have to razz you a little. Who knew, back when we were young and crazy, that Walter O'Brien would be trying to have a kid? And the old – fashioned way, at that?"

Walter leaned back in his chair. "Well, back then, we didn't know she existed. And I wouldn't have gotten this far with anyone else."

"Wow," Toby said. "I'm giving you a hard time and you turn it into that. Respect, O'Brien. You've come so far."

Walter smiled, but he was only half listening. His phone buzzed, and he knew it was Paige telling them that they'd landed.

He had just seen her this morning, but suddenly he really wanted to see her again.


	6. Chapter 6

Walter was so focused on the zeroes and ones on his screen that he didn't hear Paige's playful "Wal – ter," until, based on the look on her face when he did turn, at least the third time.

He smiled. "Hey."

Paige was wearing a bra and some loose sweat shorts, smiling, and twirling her hair around a finger. "Ralph is out like a light. You want to join me in the bedroom?"

"Ah…" Walter glanced back at his laptop. "You're not feeling pregnant after last night and this morning?"

"Frequent intercourse dramatically increases the odds of fertilization, because we're often mistaken about when we're ovulating." Paige shifted he weight to her other hip.

"That is true," Walter said, glancing back at his laptop. Toby appeared to have kept his word and not told the rest of the garage that Walter and Paige – something that surprised him – and he was grateful. Their second test had had the same result as the first – negative – and they were closing in on test number three. It took people longer than two months to conceive all the time, so Walter wasn't concerned, but it was nice to not have the added pressure of their entire group knowing.

Paige cocked her head. "Is…is something wrong, Walter?"

He blinked in confusion. "No. Why?"

"I don't know, I mean…" She shrugged. "You're not normally so indifferent to me."

"Oh." Walter hesitated. If he was honest, there was a limit to how much sex he actively wanted. They had been engaging in relations nearly every night that Paige wasn't menstruating for the past three months. He loved her, and to say he was losing his attraction to her would be grossly inaccurate, but…he wished he could spend a night working on one of his other passions.

But, he thought to himself, she probably wouldn't be as eager when she was pregnant. There would be back aches, and irritability, and fatigue, and all of those things could severely decrease libido. He would have plenty of time, between foot massages and pulling a blanket over her, to work on code. "I'm sorry," he said, closing his laptop. "I just…I was thinking about the case we had today." He shook his head. "It's gone. All you."

She smiled when he walked the distance between them and kissed her, placing his hands firmly on her hips. He could feel that smile against his lips.

When she took his hand and started to walk toward the bedroom, Walter couldn't help but look down at their entwined fingers. He wondered if she – and their friends – would find it funny that he loved little things like this. He and Paige had been in so many situations more intimate than this, and yet holding her hand – one of the earlier touches to come from them knowing each other – was still one of his favorites.

When they got in front of the bed, Walter walked up behind her, put his hands back on her hips, and put his mouth right by her ear. "Lay down," he whispered, feeling her shudder, and when she crawled onto the bed, Walter pulled his shirt over his head and undid the belt on his pants, pushing them down.

Paige flipped over onto her back and smiled up at him as her fingers worked at the button on her shorts. Walter crawled over her, tugging them down her hips. She lifted her legs, allowing him to slide them all the way off, and he raised his eyebrows when he realized she had nothing on underneath. "Didn't that hurt?"

She smirked. "Not for the five minutes I had the shorts on."

Walter chuckled, leaning down to kiss her stomach, sucking lightly on the soft skin. Paige slid a hand down and into his hair, sighing quietly. Walter lifted his head, scooting up to kiss her neck, a hand palming one of her breasts over her bra. Paige shifted her weight, reaching behind her back, and then the bra popped loose. She wiggled, freeing herself of it, and Walter dropped his head to a breast, kissing his way around it before locking his mouth on the nipple, eliciting a whimper from Paige. He smiled to himself, slowly beginning to kiss his way down her body. He got as far as her belly button, tracing his tongue around it and feeling her hips jerk slightly, before the fingers in his hair tightened and tugged. "Walter."

He recognized her tone, and stopped, lifting his head again. "What's wrong?"

She lifted an eyebrow. "You have some magical talent that can knock a woman up that way?"

Walter was confused. She never refused this. "N – no, of course not, but…"

"Come on, Mister Efficiency. Penis. Now."

Walter sat up. "Didn't you tell me back when we first started doing this that using medical terms ruined the mood?"

"I'm in a monogamous relationship and don't watch a lot of porn. I'm not exactly up on what the kids are calling it these days."

"You know, about a hundred years ago they called it the Master of Ceremonies."

Paige snorted, putting her hands over her mouth and rolling half onto her side. "Oh my God, Walter."

He lowered himself back over her, smiling, and Paige shifted back onto her back, grinning at him. "You're so weird."

"Guilty as charged."

Paige slid her hands down his chest and to the waistband of his boxers, pushing at them. She wasn't in a position to get them off his hips, so Walter sat up again, shifting until he was free of them. He crawled over her again, lowering his head to kiss her between her breasts, sliding a hand down around her thigh. Paige reached down between them, guiding him to her entrance and sighing again when he eased inside.

She'd teased him about being efficient, but he usually preferred to go slow, and tonight was no exception. Thinking about his breathing, Walter eased into a slow, steady rhythm, moving deep inside her with each thrust and enjoying the small sounds that she made each time.

"You feel so nice," he whispered after a few minutes. It was one of the things he said most often to her when they were doing this. His discomfort at being touched was still fairly present when it came to people he didn't know or wasn't comfortable with, and he knew that the affirmation that he loved how she felt around him was something that she liked to hear. And Walter certainly didn't mind saying it.

He groaned quietly when Paige tightened around him. She knew how to get him, how to drive him past the point of coherent thought. Sex was purely physical – that's what he'd always thought. He had been surprised, when he and Paige had become sexually intimate, how different the experience was from his previous experience, as limited as that experience had been. Even less successful encounters with Paige were head and shoulders above his best experiences with the women he'd been with before. It was still incredible to him how much love could enhance an experience – even now, when they'd done this too many times to count.

Paige's breathing was growing heavier, but Walter felt his groin tightening and tingling and he knew that he was ahead of her. Slowing his momentum, Walter reached down to stimulate her with his hand.

"Walter," she gasped, her head lolling from side to side. "It's okay."

He looked down at her. "Are you sure, Love?"

Paige nodded. She finished before him more often than not, but it wasn't a rarity that he got there first. She tightened herself around him again and crossed her ankles behind his back. Walter kissed her soundly on the mouth, falling back into his previous rhythm and rubbing one of her nipples with his thumb. Paige moaned, wrapping an arm around his neck. "God, Walter."

Hearing his name from her lips in situations like this was almost a magic word. Walter groaned, his thrusts growing erratic, and it was less than a minute before he stilled his hips, flush against hers, his body shaking in pleasure as he released into her.

She kept her legs wrapped around him, adding her other arm around his neck, and pushed her lips against his chin as he panted. "I love you," she whispered.

He knew he couldn't form words yet, so he responded by tucking his head and bumping his nose against hers. It was nice to be able to stay like this, to not have to worry about rolling off and removing a condom quickly.

He was going to ask if she wanted his fingers or mouth, but he got his answer before asking when she yawned. It  _had_  been a long day. Walter lifted his head and kissed her before pushing up on his hands and moving until he was lying next to her. He slid his hand over her stomach. "Do you want the air turned down?"

"Mmm, I'll be okay." She smiled at him, then giggled.

"Wait. What?"

"Master of Ceremonies." She shook her head, looking up at the ceiling. "I can't get over that."

Walter rolled his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hint at a couple future aspects of this fic in this chapter – anyone pick up on one or both?


	7. Chapter 7

"So this is one of the older type tests," Paige said, holding it up. "Two lines on the display means I'm pregnant, and one line means I'm not."

"Seems simple enough," Walter said. "How long is the wait time?"

"Three minutes." Paige set down her phone. "I have an alarm set."

"Okay." He held out his arm as she sat down next to him, sliding it around her. They sat in silence for a moment, then Walter cleared his throat. "I've been meaning to ask you something."

When Paige looked at him, he detected a hint of concern in her eyes. "Okay. What?"

Walter wasn't at all sure how to phrase what he wanted to say. He supposed it shouldn't be awkward, not given the nature and longevity of their relationship, but…he still wasn't super comfortable with certain language and was always worried about being inappropriate in timing. "It's…it's about…" He cleared his throat again. "You haven't had an orgasm in a while."

"I did the night after we had dinner with Cabe and Allie."

"That was almost two weeks ago."

Paige smiled at him. "You know you're the only one who has to for us to have a baby, right?"

Walter let out a breath. "I know, but that…that doesn't mean that I don't want you to. Both of us don't decrease the chances of conception."

"Walter," Paige said, resting her hand on his thigh. "Orgasms aren't the be all, end all of sex. It's not the only moment that feels good. And it's unrealistic to expect me to finish every time."

"I…I know, I know that, but…" Walter trailed off.  _But you usually do a lot more often than this._  He could usually bring her to her peak at least three quarters of all of their encounters – and of those times, he could get her off more than once with about a fifty – fifty success rate. It wasn't unusual for Paige to not have an orgasm, but it was extremely unusual for them to have almost a dozen sexual encounters without her having one. And what surprised him even more was she was so unconcerned. She was repeatedly doing things that she knew got him there faster while reassuring him that she wanted him to finish even if she didn't. "I just wish you would let me do more for you. I…I can't help but f – f – feel that I'm taking advantage. And I hate men that do that. I don't want to be one of those men."

"Hey. Walter." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You're not taking advantage of me. To be honest, we're doing this a lot more than normal. And we have long days at work, and we have school functions for Ralph, and when we have sex on nights that we wouldn't be if we weren't trying for a baby, I just want to get it over with so I can go to sleep. But you're not taking advantage because I still  _want_  to do it, and I'm still having a good time."

"I just…I guess." Walter still felt a little uncomfortable, and guilty, but he supposed Paige had a point. "Okay. If you say so. I just…I like making you feel good."

"You do. I promise. Please don't worry about it."

 _It's not that easy, though._  "I'll try," Walter said, nodding his head.

She smiled. "Thank you."

She leaned in to kiss him, but they jumped when a shrill sound pierced the air. "My phone," she explained, getting up and swiping her finger across the screen to silence it. She looked back at Walter, her hand hovering over the test. "Good luck," she said with a nervous smile.

"Good luck," Walter echoed, giving her a reassuring nod.

Paige picked up the test and looked at the screen. Walter saw her face fall. "No?" He asked hesitantly.

Paige's eyes closed and she dropped the test into the trash can next to the desk. It clattered against the empty bottom. She put a hand over her mouth.

"Hey." Walter got up and stepped over to her. "Hey, Paige."

"I'm fine. I'm fine. Just give me a second."

He reached around and began to rub her back, waiting until she straightened up and wiped her eyes. "I don't understand, we're both so healthy."

"Hey." He took her face in his hands. "We will have a baby. Some people try for a year before they're successful. You have said that yourself, the day before we took the first test. And the professionals say as long as you're under thirty five – which you are – it's not even necessary to go see a specialist until after the first year."

"I know that," Paige said, "and it's stupid, but every time that test comes back negative, I just get more and more anxious. I'm…scared it's never going to happen. And you and me, we've…we've always been able to pull off anything we've ever tried together, crazy, seemingly impossible things and yet when it comes to  _this_ , something that's so natural…"

"I know." Walter kissed her forehead. "I know."

"It's not fair," she said. "The first time I was so scared. I was so unprepared. For  _days,_  I wrestled with whether or not I was even going to do this. And even when I committed to carrying Ralph, I was an absolute wreck. And now that I want it…now that I'm with you…" Tears sprang to her eyes. "I just…and I feel like a terrible mother because that makes it sound like Ralph isn't enough." When Paige said her son's name, her voice cracked.

Walter pulled her against him, sliding his fingers into her hair. "You're a wonderful mother."  _There's nothing wrong with wanting more children._ "You know that Ralph wouldn't be the person he is if he didn't have you."

Paige didn't say anything, and it didn't sound like she was crying, but Walter kept his arms tight around her, rocking them gently side to side. Eventually Paige sighed. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He kissed her ear.

"So, uh…" She leaned back slightly. "Ralph won't be awake for another hour or so…"

Walter sighed internally. He knew what she was suggesting and he really wasn't in the mood. But she was upset, and he knew what it was like to want to achieve something and not being able to do anything about it. He had a feeling that she would feel powerless if he turned her down, especially while she was still reeling from this latest negative test. "Yeah, okay."

The smile on Paige's face told him he'd made the right decision.

* * *

"Are you doing okay over there, Dineen?"

Paige looked up from her paperwork. Happy was standing at her work station, looking over at her with raised eyebrows. "Yeah. Yeah I'm good. I'm great. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I couldn't help but notice that you keep re – reading that same piece of paper over and over again and I think you've signed the bottom at least three times. And I'm not that great with paperwork but I don't think that's how it is supposed to work."

"I haven't…" Paige glanced at the paperwork in front of her. The bottom had the usual line for a signature, and on it was a muddled mess that if she looked at it for a moment, she could see were multiple signatures right on top of each other. "Wow. I must be really tired." In all honesty, she was distracted more than tired, although she'd be lying if she claimed she didn't spend a good part of everyday wishing she could take a nap.

"Is 197 keeping you up or something?"

"Well, actually we…" she stopped herself. She and Walter had decided that there would only be more pressure weighing on them if they told people. "We aren't sleeping as soundly as we used to. Maybe we need to flip the mattress or something."

Happy didn't look overly convinced, but thankfully she wasn't her husband and preferred to not have her nose in their business. So she shrugged. "Okay. You'll probably want to print a new form, though."

"Yeah. Yeah, definitely."

Happy gave a slow, deliberate nod that suggested that she wasn't convinced, but turned back to her work. Paige breathed a sigh of relief.

With one last glance at Happy, Paige pulled out her phone and pulled up her fertility app, briefly questioning why she was paranoid about Happy seeing her phone out when there was no way she could get a view of the screen. "Eh," she said out loud, dismissing the thought. She studied the app. Today was, statistically, one of the least likely days that she could get pregnant. And she and Walter had already had sex this morning. Maybe tonight they could both get a full night's sleep.

_But low odds aren't impossible odds. Toby once told me about how a horse won the Kentucky Derby at 91 – 1. What if tonight is when I would conceive but we don't have sex? Although sperm can live for like seventy – two hours, right? So tonight would still be okay from this morning._

Paige felt the beginnings of a headache. She groaned and leaned forward, resting her head on the pile of papers.


	8. Chapter 8

"So, you care to tell me what's bothering you, son?"

Walter kicked a pebble, watching it skip across the pavement ahead of them. He had a feeling that when Cabe asked him if he wanted to go for a walk, the older man had wanted to talk. But he had, apparently incorrectly, assumed that he wanted to talk to him about Allie. Walter had been suspecting for a while – okay, well,  _Paige_  had been suspecting for a while – that Cabe was planning to propose soon. He'd been on the phone with Allie before suggesting this walk, and Paige had looked at Walter and lifted her eyebrows. If he'd known that Cabe wanted to talk about  _him_ , Walter would have made up some excuse to stay at the garage with Paige and Happy. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "We all have things bother us from time to time."

"Yeah, but when it's a work thing, you throw yourself into solving it. You have so much energy. You drive us crazy about it. You seem lethargic lately. Not a whole lot, people who don't know you might not even pick up on it. But I know you, kid. And you've got something going on in that mind of yours that you don't know how to handle and if I can help, I want to do that."

Walter hesitated. A part of him desperately wanted to tell Cabe everything, something the Walter of old would not have desired at all. But with his increased EQ, he also recognized that this might qualify as betraying confidentiality. Toby was the only one of the group who even knew that he and Paige were trying to get pregnant. He seemingly hadn't even told Happy. Walter felt as if telling Cabe everything that was distressing him about his relationship with Paige would be wrong.

"If it's betraying privacy you're worried about," Cabe said, "you know I don't tell a soul anything that isn't my place to do so. And if you want to be vague, I can listen."

"Do you swear this doesn't leave this conversation?" Walter blurted, suddenly sounding like a grade schooler.  _I might as well have asked him to pinky promise._

"Of course."

He sighed. "Paige and I…we have been trying to have a baby. For about four months now. And obviously, nothing has happened. She's disappointed, and so am I."

"That's normal. You know my daughter, it took us five months to get pregnant with her. Those failed tests can be discouraging as Hell."

"That's not…I mean…I mean that's not what bothers me. The most. I mean." Walter frowned at his inability to form a sentence. "I feel like our relationship is different now."

Cabe gave a slow nod. "Okay."

It was clear the older man was giving him the option to elaborate. Walter sucked in a breath. "Our intimacy feels more like a chore than anything else. She's tired, so am I. We aren't going on dates – neither of us have even suggested it. Sometimes…" Walter felt a rush of guilt that almost made him keel over. "I love her, Cabe."

Cabe cocked his head. "Did you think I was under the impression that you don't?"

"No." Walter shook his head. He was glad he rarely gave speeches. He was terrible at forming and expanding on a thought. "I love her so much, but when I look at her now, I feel…tired. And I feel like I'm wronging her."  _Because she's not getting as much out of our encounters that I am._  But Walter didn't want to share that much with Cabe. Especially when he wasn't even enjoying sex at the moment. An orgasm didn't necessarily mean that the person had a good experience. Sex was mental and emotional as well as physical and Walter needed all three to be there. One out of three might get Paige pregnant. "But that shouldn't be the only goal, should it?"

He paled when he realized he'd said the last part out loud. Based on the slight change in Cabe's expression, the agent had to have put at least some pieces together. He shrugged. "I think it's important that the connection between you too stay strong," he said. "I would say that's more important than getting pregnant sooner rather than later. But without knowing specifics – and I ain't asking – the only real advice I can give you is to keep that communication open. Keep the reasons you love each other right at the forefront. Love is work, kid. Love is hard work."

Walter nodded, even though he didn't entirely agree. Loving Paige had hurt – badly – in the past. But he never considered it difficult to do. Even when she gave him a dozen reasons not to love her, he still did. He couldn't help it. It was as if she was his custom setting and his default all in one. Loving her was easy. It was the easiest thing he had ever done.

But Toby and Sylvester had both said before that love was both a feeling and an action. Maybe the feeling was easy and the action was the hard part.

"I've tried to talk to her about this. I just…it's almost as if this is what she wants. She's repeatedly said she doesn't care if…that I shouldn't worry about how she feels about…about whatever, if she's tired or something, because of the goal we're working towards. And we can do anything together, and it's never easy, but it always happens." Walter had heard that speech again the previous morning. They'd had ten minutes before they had to leave for work, and her fertility app said it was go time. She'd told him to get himself ready while she showered, and had come out of the bathroom minutes later with her hair wrapped up in a towel and a bottle in her hand. Even with the lubricant, she hadn't been ready when she sank onto him. He could see that on her face, and feel it when she tensed uncomfortably. But she'd kissed him, assured him she was fine, and hadn't seemed to mind when they ended up late for work because he hadn't been able to get out of his head and took longer than she probably would have liked to climax. In the car, she'd said those words again.  _It'll be okay. You and me? We always accomplish what we set out to do. Together we're pretty much unstoppable, you know. Sure we've had our bumps, and this process kinda sucks, but it'll be worth it in the end. Gosh, I can't wait to see you holding our little baby. I think my heart might actually melt. I think it may be melting already._

"I know at the surface it might not seem like I can do anything," Cabe said, "but if there is any way I can…any way I can somehow make things easier or better, just let me know. I love you. I don't like seeing you so distressed and I don't like seeing you and Paige so out of it."

"Trust me," Walter said. "I don't like it either."

* * *

They had kept their secret for months now, and all it took was a casual comment from Happy about Walter seeming glad to go out for a walk with Cabe, "he seems kinda down in the dumps. And I don't normally notice things like that immediately," for Paige to make comments that purposefully steered their conversation in a way that she could admit to what was bothering  _her_. Surprisingly, Happy seemed interested, not yawning or glancing at her machinery in the entire ten minutes it took Paige to spill the details of her and Walter's pregnancy frustrations.

"You guys have been trying to conceive. Wow. I figured the moment that happened old 197 would be matter – of – factly talking about it in excruciating detail and charting fertility on one of the boards in here."

"We didn't want to tell anyone until it actually happened. And now, who the Hell knows." Paige's hair fell over her shoulder, a lock over her face. Paige tossed her head. The hair fell right back where it had been.

Happy frowned. "You haven't been trying  _that_  long."

"I know. But I still feel like such a failure."

"A failure?"

"It's just so frustrating," Paige said, aggressively flinging her hair back over her shoulder. This time, it stayed put. "I got pregnant with Ralph without even trying. And now that we're doing as much as we can to make it happen, it isn't. I can help Team Scorpion save the world but I can't do what I'm literally built to do. What I'm biologically  _supposed_  to do."

Happy's eyes flashed, her demeanor changing in an instant. "Oh.  _Cut_  that crap, Dineen."

Suddenly timid, afraid to speak, Paige cocked her head ever so slightly, her voice dropping so much it was barely audible. "What?"

Happy folded her arms. "You raise a kid on your own. You throw yourself into all these life or death situations, you think fast on your feet, you've literally beaten up criminals, you've stared down the barrel of a gun a dozen times if you've done it once, and you're reducing yourself to your uterus? And you feel like crap because you can't start building a kid at the snap of your fingers? What sort of attitude do you take to people who don't  _want_  kids? Or…or who can't have them? They worthless to you or something? Why is your self – worth suddenly dependent on whether or not you're pregnant? Mine sure as Hell isn't. That isn't healthy at all."

Paige stopped. Happy's voice had tremored a little, just barely cracking the no – nonsense façade with which she had just snapped at her. Paige's face softened. "Oh God, Happy…you…?"

Happy bit her lip, setting her jaw at the same time. Paige stepped forward, close enough to open her arms if she thought the mechanic would be accepting. So much made sense now. Toby's comment about how he'd rather everyone not know that Walter and Paige were trying. His uncharacteristic silence and dedication to keeping their secret. Happy getting upset just now. Paige shook her head slowly from side to side. "I'm sorry."

Happy shrugged. "It's fine. I mean, we can adopt. We're looking into it already. We don't have a lot of money so it may be a while before anything happens but it's probably better this way. We can help someone escape the pain and loneliness that is the foster system."

Paige nodded.

"But I mean, I hope it works out with you and Walter. With the kid, I mean."

Paige wanted to thank her. But it somehow felt wrong. So she nodded, hoping that would get her thoughts across.

"Just don't let this process get between you and him. It can really ruin a lot of stuff." Happy kicked lightly at the table leg. "It's already an emotional enough process without the two of you getting out of your groove."

Paige wasn't sure what she meant, exactly. Happy and Toby hadn't shown any signs of strain on their relationship in the past year, at least half of which would have been their period of trying to conceive, if a few months ago they'd already gotten the bad news. "Walter and I are fine," she assured her. "We're tired, but I mean, more activity makes you tired." If she was completely honest with herself, their relationship wasn't ideal at the moment - but what relationship  _was_  ideal all the time? Things certainly weren't  _bad_.

"That's not what I mean," Happy said. "But just keep what I said in mind. Okay? Sometimes you don't realize something is happening until it's too late or very close to it."

Paige wondered if she and Toby had had problems and just didn't bring those issues to work. They seemed to be fine now, though, so she decided not to pry. She nodded. "Okay. Thank you."

Happy nodded, starting to turn away. Then she stopped. "You won't tell anyone…about…? We don't really want it on the Yahoo home page."

Paige nodded quickly. "Of course."


	9. Chapter 9

"Seems Cabe and Doug need help. You guys okay here if I run back to the van and get the welding equipment?"

Walter nodded, and from above him, Paige held a hand out and gave Happy a thumbs up. "Both hands on the ridge!" Walter shouted up at her.

They were working on a case given to them by a former government official – a longtime colleague of Cabe's. Cabe was inside the building with his friend, Toby and Sylvester were going through old mugshots – their internet was down at the building and so it was old school until Happy, Paige, and Walter could get it fixed from outside – because Sylvester didn't forget a face.

Paige had been the one to scale the building to the second flood and was now inching along the ridge toward a window where she could get inside and work with the main office computer. Walter waited below, ready to send the fake virus he'd created with his laptop to their main computer system as soon as Paige got in and refreshed the Wi – Fi signal.

Walter put his hand over his ear to cut out background noise to his com as he opened his mouth to remind Paige, again, to be careful.

But before he could, she fell.

" _Paige!_ " Walter's voice came rushing out with such ferocity that he sounded hoarse. She was just lying there, perfectly still, on the ground below where she had fallen. Walter was already rushing toward her before her body hit the ground. " _Paige! Paige!_ "

"Son, what's happened?" Came Cabe's voice.

"Paige fell! Paige fell!" He shouted, reaching her and falling to his knees. A hand ran through her hair as the fingers on his other one pressed against her neck. "Oh, God," he said when his question was answered with a rhythmic thumping. His hand came off her neck and grabbed one of her hands as he stretched his legs out until he was lying beside her. He wanted to gather her up in his arms and hold her too tightly for anything bad to happen, but while he may be a genius, he wasn't stupid. She may have a serious injury – she was unconscious, after all – and moving her would only make that worse. "Paige," he said, his face just inches above hers. "Paige, honey, wake up. Please wake up." He kept his hand against the top of her head, his thumb lightly running over her forehead. "Paige, help is coming. Toby will be here in a few minutes. But I'm right here now, okay? Paige, please wake up."

He placed his fingers against her neck again, reassured at the same rhythmic response. It felt strong. So why was she unconscious? Walter knew if anyone took his own pulse at the present moment, it would be going faster than the A Train. "Paige," he said, "I need you to look at me. I need you to show me you're…oh God!" Walter's breath of relief came out more like a groan when he saw her stir, move her head slightly to the side, wince, and then open her eyes. They focused on him, and then closed again. "My hip…"

"Your hip hurts? Which one?" Walter thought she had banged her right hip fairly hard when she'd fallen.

"Over…here…" Paige said, her right hand bumping against the corresponding hip.

"Good," Walter said, his mind racing as he tried to think of some test of how clearly she was thinking. He didn't see any blood anywhere. And he didn't think she'd hit her head, but… "Okay Paige, can you tell me when your birthday is?"

"April thirteenth," Paige said, shifting her weight and wincing again. "Nineteen eighty – six."

"Stay still," Walter said, placing his hand lightly on her stomach. "Stay still. Good. Now who is the President?"

"F…" Paige paused and drew in a deep breath. Out of the corner of his eye, Walter saw Toby and Sylvester rushing toward them. He focused back on Paige as she let the breath out and sucked in another one. "Fuckface."

Walter chuckled in fondness and relief. She was going to be fine.

* * *

"Are you still worried about Ralph?"

The boy had been clearly rattled when he'd gotten out of school the previous day to find out that his mother was being examined by emergency medical personnel. Even after she'd been cleared to go home with – fortunately – just some bruising and a very mild concussion, Ralph had still decided to cancel his study session with his friends and go home with his mother and Walter. He ended up bringing his comforter into their room and sleeping on the floor next to Paige's side of the bed. But the following morning, upon seeing for himself that she was feeling no ill effects other than some soreness, he changed his mind about refusing to go to school and had left with the carpool.

Paige shook her head. "No. I hate scaring him like that. But he seemed fine this morning."

"I talked to him a little while you were in the bath," Walter said. "He said he heard about some celebrity years back who fell on a ski slope and seemed fine but died suddenly hours later. Once you were okay after a night, he felt a lot better." Walter cocked his head. "Something is bothering you though."

She shrugged. "I took another pregnancy test yesterday. In the morning before we went on the job."

Walter swallowed and hesitated before speaking. "You didn't tell me you were taking it."

"No. I didn't." Paige dropped down onto the sofa, her arms stretched out to the sides. "Because it's not quite a month since the last time and I know we agreed not to take one every few days but I really had a good feeling about how this last weekend went."

Walter wanted to ask her about the result, but it seemed obvious. "I could have been there with you. I wouldn't have been upset that you wanted to take another one so soon."

"It's not that." Paige sighed deeply. "It's so much pressure, Walter. And I cry every time the test is negative and I don't like you seeing me like that."

"Why not?" Walter walked around the couch and timidly sank down next to her.

She sighed again. "Because I don't like how I feel when I get those results and I'm embarrassed and I've been strong my whole life. I guess I'm still not used to allowing someone to be there for me. And then I feel guilty because I know you're sad too, but you're the one doing all the comforting." She shrugged, looking away. Walter could see a glint in her eye. "My body is tired and my mind is tired and everything is just…dulled." She wrung her hands. "It's like I'm not in tune with anything that's going on. I think that's why I fell yesterday."

Walter reached over, resting his hand on top of hers where they had settled in her lap. Paige made eye contact again, giving him a small smile. "I want us to have a baby so badly," she said in a low voice.

"I do too," Walter said, hoping that she wouldn't take what he was going to say next as a sign that he was only doing this for her. "But I don't want us to become distant in the meantime. Not even temporarily."

She was silent for a moment, then nodded slowly. "We  _have_  been less connected lately, haven't we?"

Walter nodded back. "I think so."

"You know, a little bit ago Happy actually suggested that to me. I don't know if she sensed it or…or what, but she told me not to let us fall apart." Paige shook her head. "And I didn't even fully understand at the time what she was talking about because I love you." She bit her lip, tears becoming more evident in her eyes. "Because Walter, of course I love you. But I think this is what she was talking about. Us just feeling pressure, dread, whatever when we're together because we've put all that on ourselves."

She had done that more than he had, but Walter didn't feel it was necessary to point that out. "I know. I sometimes feel that way whenever you and I have plans to…because there's so much of that pressure and it all feels perfunctory. And I don't like that."

"I don't either."

"How do you feel we could get back to where we were?"

Paige leaned against him, her head resting on his shoulder. "I don't know. I just know that I love you and I want to try."

"We'll succeed," Walter said, sliding his arm around her. "Because you and I can accomplish anything together. Remember?"

She patted his thigh, so he knew that she was smiling even though he couldn't see her face. "That's right."

"I…I have an idea," he said. "If you'd like to hear it."

She lifted her head to look at him. "Yeah. Of course."

"M – maybe we could…put off trying to conceive. Not for a long time. Maybe just for a few weeks. And instead of rushing home after work or skipping lunch to go up to the loft, we could take things back a little."

"What do you mean?"

"We haven't been on a date in a while. I'd like to maybe take you somewhere. Somewhere that isn't just convenient, like a food truck near the garage. Somewhere nice. Somewhere someone like you deserves to go."

Paige was smiling. Walter couldn't help but smile back. "Come home after work and spend more time with Ralph. I know he's getting older and likes his independence, his alone time, but we've been giving him more than I know I'd like."

"No sex," Paige said. "For a couple of weeks."

Walter nodded. "No pressure."

Paige leaned back and smiled at him. "So when are you taking me on this date?"

"When you feel better. I have some post dinner plans that won't be as enjoyable if you're already sore."

Paige raised her eyebrows. "I thought we said no sex for a while?"

Walter chuckled. "I'm not referring to sex. I mean our _other_ favorite physical activity."


	10. Chapter 10

Walter knew that semi – formal meant that ties were optional, but he knew that Paige loved him in a bow tie. Studying himself in the mirror, he put a hand up to try and make his curls a little less obvious.

_Well, that was an epic fail._

No matter. He knew Paige liked his curls, too. He just wished he didn't look quite so unkempt.

"You almost ready?" He called toward the bathroom. Almost as he spoke, Paige walked out, adjusting the back on one of her earrings. She was wearing a dark red dress with a sweetheart neckline (he knew the name of it because of a somewhat awkward conversation they'd had shortly after their first kiss) that fit her tightly to her hips and then had a bit of flare. At the sight of her, Walter's eyebrows shot up so high if he didn't know better he'd have expected them to get caught in his curls.

Paige smiled. "You like?"

"Mmm hmm," Walter said, and she grinned, walking toward him and sliding her arms over his shoulders, clasping her hands behind him as she stood with her nose an inch from his. Walter smiled at her. "You look absolutely stunning."

"Thank you," she said. "You do too. Loving the bow tie." She kissed him. "So where are you taking me?"

"Delattre's."

"Delattre's?" Paige's eyes grew wide, like a child on Christmas morning. "Oh my gosh, I've wanted to go there for…well, you know."

He did know. She hadn't stopped talking about it in the weeks after the place had re – opened under new management. But neither of them had been successful at getting a reservation prior to their decision to try and get pregnant, and after that, it had been placed on the back burner. But it had been a week since her accident, she was feeling just like her old self, and that meant it was time for their first real date night in nearly six months. Walter couldn't wait.

"I like your earrings," Walter said, and Paige smirked. He'd gotten them for her. He still didn't understand why some women were so fond of jewelry, but he knew Paige loved it, and the way her eyes lit right up when she saw them told him that he had aced holiday gift giving.

"I like them too," she said, her voice low. "Walter, this is already such a good idea."

"Well, I have all night to disappoint you," he joked, and she rolled her eyes and swatted him. "Let's go, Love."

* * *

 

Their car was parked on the East side of the restaurant, but when they walked down the stairs and reached the sidewalk, Walter guided Paige in the opposite direction. Local band was playing in a park nearby, and Walter knew from detective work that they had a dance floor set up. He'd hinted to Paige the previous week that they were going to go dancing, but he could  _feel_  her excitement as they approached. "Oh my gosh," she said, her tone almost flirtatious, "this is so romantic."

He couldn't quite make out the song that was being played, they were still a distance away and there was chatter from the food trucks across the street, but several couples were out on the floor, and others gathered around a buffet table that Walter knew from searching the internet – his definition of detective work – held hors d'oeuvres. He assumed that his girlfriend was still full from the large helping of vegetable ragout that she'd had at dinner, but, still holding his hand, Paige walked rapidly to the table to study what they had to offer.

"Oh, these crackers are good," Paige said, taking two off the plate and dropping them onto her palm before replacing the tongs. She held the hand out. "Try one."

Walter did. He found the flavor to be a bit odd – not bad, but not to his liking. Thankfully when Paige took a couple more, she didn't offer any.

"Would you like to dance?" He asked her after a minute or two, and she nodded, smiling. "I'd love to dance."

Walter took her hand, leading her out onto the floor, and was about to ease into position when the silence that was created by a song fading out was replaced with some fast beats. His brow furrowed. "Uh…"

Paige didn't look nearly as confused, breaking into a wide grin. "Love Shack!" She yelled, loud enough for Walter to hear over the rush of people running to the floor.

"I…" Walter had somehow forgotten that dances had fast songs, and he tensed up as everyone around him fell into rows and started moving together as if there was a choreography session earlier in the night that they had missed. "I don't know…"

"It's easy," Paige assured him, pulling him into a spot next to her. "You'll pick up on it. Sixteen beats then start over. Watch me."

She was right – within forty five seconds Walter had the routine down pat. But he couldn't help but continue to watch her when their positions on the floor allowed it. There was a glow about her that he hadn't seen in a long time.

When the song was over, it faded out into a slower melody, one that Walter recognized. He and Paige effortlessly fell into step, his arm a little farther around her back than usual when they danced, out of a need to keep her close.

"This has been a really great night, Walter," she whispered.

"I think so too," he agreed, smiling affectionately at her. "Spending time with you is my favorite thing in the world."

"And doing things like this makes it even more wonderful," Paige said, her eyes shining.

They used to do this kind of thing all the time, before they got preoccupied. Walter was glad that Paige not only had missed it as much as him, but seemed to be having as much fun as he was. "I love you, Paige," he whispered.

The hand on resting on the back of his neck came up to cradle his face. "I love you so much," she said, her voice barely audible as she looked deep into his eyes. Walter could have sworn that time stopped.

The song ended, and another slow one started. Paige and Walter smiled at each other. He leaned in to briefly brush his lips over hers. Before he could open his eyes, Paige's lips had found his again, another brief, light contact. Walter wished they were alone.

The chorus of the song had a line about a woman who would 'spin like a record,' and when the line came up again, Walter and Paige stepped slightly apart and she twirled, her dress flaring out around her. She giggled as they came close together again. Walter loved that sound. He'd been in love with the sound of her voice longer than he'd been in love with her, and even after all this time, he swore her happy laughter was enough to make him weak in the knees.

Paige leaned forward and kissed him again, a mere second of contact that almost left him agitated. Almost. She was in his arms on a dance floor, as beautiful as he'd ever seen her, so much love for him in her eyes that he thought he might have all the luck of the Irish and left the rest of his home country without.

Walter didn't even realize what time it was until the band announced the next song would be their last.

* * *

 

" _Oh_  my God, Walter, that was incredible." Paige tossed her purse onto the couch and stretched, her arms straight over her head.

"I'm glad you had a good time," he said, unbuttoning his jacket and draping it over the back of the couch.

"I did," she said, smiling fondly at him. "I'd forgotten how much fun it was to just go on dates…enjoy each other's company…" She walked up to him and put her hands on his neck. "God, I love you."

He kissed her, his hands on her hips, hearing a tiny moan in the back of her throat right before they separated. She smiled at him. "We really need to get out like that more often."

"I agree."

She bit her lip, staring into his eyes, and Walter made a quiet sound in his throat. He knew that look. He loved that look. And when it lingered, he didn't think he could look away if he tried.

Her lips were on his again within moments, and he wrapped his arms tightly around her, holding her against him. The kisses weren't rushed, weren't frantic, but did have a twinge of desperation as they deepened, and when their mouths separated for air, both of them gasped for breath. Her hands slid up into his hair, holding him in place, and they stayed almost motionless, their lips locked firmly together. When their lips separated again, Paige moved her lips to his jaw, then his neck, and when her tongue circled over  _that_  spot, Walter's eyes fell closed and he groaned, his fingers pressing against her.

They'd said – they'd agreed to – none of this kind of physical intimacy. Not yet. It was only a week ago that both of them had been so disinterested Walter wasn't sure they would be capable unless their lives depended on it…and since pressure had been the reason, maybe not even then. And the reminder of that pressure made a hint of dread seep into Walter even now, but despite that, he still couldn't remember the last time he'd wanted her this badly.

But they'd said no to this. How could he, after telling her about how he had been feeling obligated, try to go back on that?

"Walter," Paige gasped. "Walter, do you want…" She took in another breath, the end of her sentence cut off when Walter put his lips back on hers, his thumbs caressing her sides over her dress as he pushed his hips against hers, wanting her to feel how much he  _did_  want what she was suggesting. Paige whimpered slightly in response, tearing her lips away from his to look him solidly in the eye. She was searching, wanting to make sure he was sure, and Walter slid his hand slowly up and down from her rib to her hip and back again, smiling.

"Where?" She asked, and Walter looked over her shoulder down the hall. She smiled, taking his hand, and they walked to the bedroom. Once inside, Paige walked to the mirror, taking off her earrings and necklace as Walter hurriedly undid the buttons on his shirt. He debated just shrugging it off, but instead eased out of it, balling it up and dropping it in the laundry basket near the dresser.

Paige turned to him, reaching behind her back and unzipping her dress, letting it fall around her hips and then pushing it the rest of the way down before doing the same with her underwear. She took the step that separated them, reaching for the waistband of his pants with both hands and curling her fingers around it as she pushed her bare chest against his and kissed him again, both hands on the side of his face.

"Paige…" Walter said, feeling slightly hesitant. It had been a good night. A wonderful night. But a week without this and a date didn't erase all the feelings he had been having toward sex recently.

"Condom?" Paige said, placing a finger on his chin. "No pressure? No rush?"

He nodded, sighing in relief. "Yeah. No pressure."

"Good." Paige's fingers undid the button on his pants and drew down the zipper. "Because that's what I want too."

She pushed his pants off his hips and Walter wiggled out of them. There was really no good way to undress without some awkwardness. There was a reason the movies edited this part.

"Lay down," Walter said, his voice low, and Paige smiled at him as she slowly backed toward the bed. Walter walked with her, crawling onto the bed above her and lowering his head to place his lips firmly on hers again. Then he scooted backward, kissing between her breasts, and then her stomach, his tongue tracing around her belly button. He felt Paige relax, and he smiled. This was already so different from how it had been recently.

Walter settled between her thighs, wrapping his arms around them and pressing kisses on the insides, first to the left, then the right, before finally settling where he knew she wanted him. He started slow, both for her benefit and for his. He enjoyed this, too. He wanted it to last.

"Oh, Walter," Paige breathed, her hand sliding down her body until her fingers tangled in his curls.

Walter smiled to himself. "I missed this," he mumbled.

"This?"

She sounded almost surprised. "Mmm hmm," he said, scooting up farther between her legs and flattening his tongue. "I did."

Paige whimpered quietly, and Walter didn't know if it was from what he was saying, what he was doing, or both.

Walter picked up his pace after a few more minutes. He liked drawing things out, but he hadn't been given the time to make her come apart lately and he wanted to get her there, for both of their satisfaction.

Paige's breathing grew heavier, her knees rising slightly, and Walter kissed her warm flesh before focusing slightly higher. "Oh God," she moaned, her fingers curling more tightly around his hair. Walter sucked lightly, then with more force, his tongue pressing against her and moving in a rapid back and forth motion. Paige gasped, moaned, and closed her thighs around him. But she wasn't quite there yet. Walter repeated the motion, then flattened his tongue and licked around her clit before repeating the side to side motion, this time up and down. She was breathing that way, he could feel her legs trembling and her head was tipped way back. She was close.

She whimpered again, and Walter detected a hint of frustration. He wondered if since it had been so long since she'd pursued this, she was having a harder time finishing than usual.  _Don't worry, Love,_ he thought. He slid a hand up and over one of her breasts, kneading it, rubbing his thumb over her nipple. He sucked at her clit again, moving his tongue lightly over it, alternating between that and a more aggressive sweep.

"Oh…" Paige said sharply, curling the hand that was resting on the covers, gripping the comforter. "Walter, Walter, Walter," she moaned, her voice growing more high pitched each time she said his name. It wasn't another ten seconds before she shuddered, a sharp sound coming from her throat as her legs went limp, one of them jerking slightly a few times. Walter kept his mouth on her, drawing it out, removing his hand from her breast to caress her stomach and then her hip. Then he lifted his head, his tongue running over his lips, and placed a kiss just above her sensitive nerves before crawling back up the bed to lay next to her. "I love you," he murmured, resting on his side and placing his hand on her stomach.

She leaned over, their lips meeting, a long, slow kiss. "I love you, too," she said. Then she dropped her head back on the pillow. "Oh, God."

Walter smiled, scooting a little closer to kiss her shoulder. Paige grinned at him, her body slowly losing its flush. She sat up, leaning over to the bedside table and pulling the drawer open. "I swear we had…ah ha." She rolled onto her back again, triumphantly holding up the condom.

Walter took it from her, wiggling out of his boxers. Paige smiled seductively up at him as he covered himself. Or perhaps it wasn't overly seductive. Maybe he was just wound so tightly that any smile would look that way right now. Walter didn't care to spend time pondering. He crawled over her, kissing her on the lips and then the neck, working his way up to an ear and sucking on the lobe. Paige let out a breath, her sigh turning into a moan. "Walter."

He positioned himself at her entrance, his thumb moving in circles around her clit, not quite touching it. She was probably still sensitive. "You good?" He whispered, his lips near hers.

She nodded, sliding her hand around to the back of his neck, and Walter rested his upper lip against her lower one, both of them gasping as he pushed into her. He set a slow pace, moving his hips in long, smooth motions, wanting to draw it out for both of them. He knew that this wouldn't magically rejuvenate them in their quest to have a baby. But God, this was good. This was very, very good.

Walter liked this position because they had no difficulty kissing, and he knew that Paige felt the same way. Resting some of his weight on her and balancing the rest of it on his forearms, Walter caught both her lips between his, his tongue tracing them, pushing beyond when they parted. He felt Paige's hand in his hair and forgot why he'd ever worried about his curls.

One plus to their busy schedule over the past months were the muscles he used for this were in extremely good shape. Walter used this to his advantage, thrusting slightly more aggressively while keeping the same slow pace. Paige's lips broke from his and she moaned when he pushed all the way in. Walter groaned almost simultaneously. Everything was enhanced for him when she made sounds like that. He swore she could probably get him over the edge with those sounds alone.

"Oh God," Paige breathed, her chest pushing off the mattress. She hooked her legs around him, and Walter felt her hot breath in his ear as he moved his lips to her neck. She tightened her fingers in his hair. "Oh God, that feels good."

Walter closed his eyes, his hips moving slightly faster. "Yes," he managed, hoping she'd know he was agreeing with her. "God, yes."

"Faster," Paige breathed, rocking her hips harder underneath him. She was close again, and Walter smiled to himself as he kissed her neck again before arcing his back and moving his lips to one of her breasts, the one he had neglected earlier. Paige whimpered again, writhing under him, and then he felt her, pulsing, contracting around him, and he slid a hand down to grip the back of her thigh, groaning with each thrust as he neared his own release. The sounds Paige was making told him that the increased sensation was either drawing out her orgasm or bringing upon another one, and in case it was the latter, Walter grunted, trying to hold back just a little bit longer. "Oh God…"

Paige made another whimpering sound, then gave a loud moan, one that made Walter glad that Ralph was at a friend's house. His eyes were rolling back in his head and he knew he couldn't last any longer. He opened his mouth, wanting to tell Paige, but then he felt her shaking around him again and what came from between his lips was not an intelligible sound. His hips stilled against her, then moved once, twice more, then were still again. Paige wrapped both her arms around him, both of them gasping. He could barely think straight, but he knew he wanted to stay just like this, and he also knew that he couldn't. Rolling off of her, He removed the condom and dropped it in the wastebasket. Then he rolled back on his side, still panting hard.

Paige rolled to face him, her face flushed, sweat visible on her brow. She grinned at him, the expression on her face radiating contentment. Walter reached over, pushing some damp hair from her cheek. "Oh, my love."

She put her hand over his as it rested on the side of her face. "We messed up."

Walter knew she was referring to their decision to refrain from this for a couple of weeks at least. He smiled. "Oops."

She giggled. "Have I said that I love you too many times tonight?"

He scooted closer, and she did too. They shared a pillow, almost nose to nose. "I never tire of hearing it."

"Good," she said, bumping her nose against his. "Because I won't ever get tired of saying it."

"You're sappy tonight," he commented.

"Like I'm the only one," she countered.

He grinned. "Fair enough."

She snuggled close. Walter curled his arms around her. A lot of the time it was too hot and uncomfortable to sleep all wrapped up together. But tonight, that was exactly what he wanted.


	11. Chapter 11

There was something different about them.

Ralph could tell as soon as he walked in the door. His mother was sitting at the kitchen table, looking through a magazine, and Walter was behind her, his hands resting on her shoulders as he leaned over, studying the page she had open.

"Hi guys," he said, almost before they turned to look at him. "What are you reading?"

"Magazine your mother stole from Cabe."

"I did not steal it," Paige said, then looked at Ralph and raised her eyebrows. "Stealing is unacceptable."

In this moment, Ralph was almost amused at how strong her instinct to mother was. "Got it. What's it about?"

Paige lifted her eyebrows. "Vacation destinations," she said in a voice that suggested something scandalous.

"I don't follow, Mom."

"It's what we think he's going to do," Walter said. "You know, Allie."

"We're by ourselves," Ralph said, "what's with the secrecy? We've been thinking he's going to ask her to marry him for months now."

"And this magazine," Paige said, "is more evidence!"

Ralph rolled his eyes. "Have fun with that, Mom."

"How was your sleepover?" She asked.

"Good. Fun. I taught him how to get around the parental controls on his dad's laptop. Which isn't anything that I would ever do here," he added quickly, noting that the proud look on Walter's face was not mirrored on his mother's. He walked down the hall and entered his room, slinging his overnight bag onto the mattress, then laying down next to it and stretching out on his back. The sleepover  _had_  been fun, but no one ever slept well at them. He was feeling a little achy and he wished he could stay on his mattress all morning.

"You want some breakfast?" Walter appeared at his bedroom door. "We just had toast, but I've gotten pretty good at pancakes if that's what you wanted."

Ralph sat up. "Is my mom pregnant?"

Walter blinked, glanced down the hall, then entered Ralph's room, closing the door behind him. "No, Ralph. She's not."

Ralph nodded. "Oh. You guys seemed happier this morning than you have been lately. And she especially seemed brighter. So I wondered." He hesitated. "So things are better with you and her?"

Walter cocked his head, furrowing his brow in the way that he always did when he was trying to pretend that he didn't know what Ralph was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"Like, I know that you guys haven't been the same recently. I may not know the details…and I really don't want to know them…but things were different somehow."

"Were you worried?" Walter asked, sitting down next to him. "I'm sorry if we scared you."

Ralph exhaled through his nose. "You're never going to leave us. I know that."

"Good. I'm glad you know that. Because you're right." Walter smiled. "You two are stuck with me."

A corner of Ralph's mouth turned up. "Just don't be so caught up in this baby thing that you guys forget you already have a kid. I haven't been seeing much of you guys lately. At least, not as much as I'd like."

Ralph almost felt guilty at the look on Walter's face. He hadn't intended for the older genius to feel bad. Truth be told, he'd liked having some extra time to himself lately. But he had been starting to miss them.

"I'm sorry, Ralph," Walter said. "The last thing either of us wanted to do was make you feel like you'd taken a back burner."

"I don't think that," Ralph said. "I just know what it's like to be so obsessed with achieving a goal. I've seen it before. People lose themselves." He drew his knees up to his chest. "I don't want that to happen to you or my mom."

Walter placed his hand on Ralph's back. "It won't. I promise. I know…I know that I've gotten close to that in the past. But I'm better than that now, okay? You make me better. You and your Mom."

Ralph smiled. Walter had a very reassuring smile. It had been making him feel better for years. "Good." He shifted his weight. "I love you, Walter."

"I love you too, buddy."


	12. Chapter 12

Paige tipped her head back against the pillow, sighing breathlessly as her hands traveled down to tangle in Walter's hair.

They'd made love twice over the past week, both times with contraception, and their less frequent encounters than they'd had of late, more family time, plus a lack of pressure in the bedroom had worked wonders on their intimate life. Paige hated herself, just a little bit, for becoming so consumed by trying to get pregnant that she'd allowed her relationship with Walter to suffer.

She particularly judged Past Paige for refusing to let Walter's head between her legs because God, when he was doing this she didn't think she could ever get enough of it.

"Oh God," she breathed, closing her eyes, her abs tightening as he swiped his tongue over her. One leg was over his back, and the heel of her other foot dug into the bed. "Oh God," she moaned again, putting a hand on her forehead.

Walter hummed against her, making her whimper, and she pushed her hips forward against his face, an expletive rushing through her lips. He knew exactly how to draw as much out of her as possible when he had his mouth on her. He didn't just want to get her warmed up so he could climb on top and do his thing. Walter had, over the time they'd been together, convinced her that he enjoyed this, both with his words and with the enthusiasm with which he made her writhe and hope that the neighbors weren't home.

And he knew just how much she could take. Paige felt the tension building between her hips and with it was a hint of frustration. Seeming to sense it, Walter moved his mouth higher, removing a hand from her thigh and pushing two fingers into her, curling them to stroke her from the inside.

"Oh sh…" Paige covered her mouth, moaning loudly, and Walter moved his fingers independently of one another, brushing  _that spot_  on a two beat tempo. Paige pushed her hips forward again, wanting more friction, and a long, low groan came from between her parted lips as pleasure shot through her body, Walter drawing her orgasm out with his tongue. Paige tipped her head to the side, moaning again as the feeling continued to ripple through her.

Walter kissed the inside of one thigh, then the other, then removed his fingers and lifted his head to smile at her.

"Come on up here," she said, her voice sounding tired, but she knew that he would recognize it as contentment. Walter smiled, crawling up over her and leaning down to place his mouth on hers. Paige kissed him back eagerly, feeling him hard and insistent between her legs. Paige shifted her weight. She honestly didn't feel much of a difference when they used protection and when they weren't, at least not until the end. But this time, she  _knew_  they weren't. They were back to trying and with that came a desire for success, the same pressure that had derailed their intimacy the last time. She felt a twinge of dread.

Walter was kissing her neck – one of her most sensitive erogenous zones, and Paige forgot, temporarily, about her concerns. But when he entered her, and only thrusted ten or twelve times before going still and looking down at her with something she didn't recognize in his eyes, the feeling returned.

"Paige?" Walter said hesitantly. "I, uh…"

Paige bit her lip. "I know. Me too."

He sat up, then flipped over to lay on his back next to her. She folded her arms over her chest, biting her lip.

"I should be better than this," Walter said. "I'm so good at compartmentalizing. Usually."

"It's okay," she said, rubbing his thigh reassuringly. He'd lost his erection. "We're in the same boat. I promise."

"Hmph." Walter flung his head back against the pillow in frustration. "We really messed this up, didn't we?"

Paige appreciated him taking some of the blame, even though she felt she deserved all of it. "Maybe we just need to focus more on each other."

He turned to look at her. "What do you mean?"

"I saw in a movie once," Paige said, "or maybe it was on the television…" She frowned, thinking. "Actually, maybe both. That's not important. Anyway, it was this thing about how sometimes, couples should just…say what they love about each other. While looking into each other's eyes. It can help reconnect, or just make a moment extra special. Wedding vows! That's what one of them was. This couple was getting married and they didn't have their vows, so their friends suggested they just say why they love each other." She hoped she didn't make it sound too daunting. Walter was continuously improving with words, but sometimes he still got intimidated.

Walter looked slightly skeptical, but then he shrugged and nodded. "Okay. Yeah. We can do that."

"Cool. Great."

They smiled at each other, falling into a silence.

"Let me go first," Paige said, reaching out and taking his hands where they rested on his stomach. She smiled at him. "Walter, I love how sometimes, I'm really stressed or really sad, and you can tell that I don't want to talk about it, so you just hold me. I love how you let me steal the covers. I love your heart. You have such a good heart, Walter. I love how you can make my insecurities just melt away. I love how I can be silly around you." She squeezed his hands. "I love how when you kiss me I can feel everything. I love…" She lifted one of his hands and kissed it. "I love how whole I feel when we're together."

She could see how affected he was by her words. His eyes, always calm around her, seemed to soften even more, and she felt pressure around her hands as he squeezed them back. She gave him an encouraging smile. "Your turn, Love."

"Yes. Right." He nodded, clearing his throat, then let out a long, slow breath. He looked into her eyes. "I love your smile. I think I started loving your smile that first night. I love how you look at me. Especially so now that I'm not afraid of it anymore." He frowned. Paige gave him time.

Walter took in another breath. "I love how comfortable I feel around you. I don't really feel comfortable around anyone, but it's completely different with us. I love how you are with Ralph. I love how you always go to that gas station that sells the breakfast pastries I like because it's more efficient than making two stops…"

Paige couldn't help it. She chuckled. Walter gave a little laugh too, clearly pleased that she liked him bringing up that point. He ran his tongue over his lower lip. "I love how safe you make me feel. N – not in a way that I want to take you for granted. Just that I can be myself, and I know that you aren't just tolerating it." He paused. "I love how you manage to knock me off my feet and keep me centered and grounded all at the same time. If my heart is good, yours is without flaw." He leaned over, kissing her cheek. "Of all the things that have happened to me in my life…you're still the one that I most can't believe."

Paige snuggled close to him, linking their fingers. She kissed his neck. Walter shifted his weight and slid an arm around her, capturing her lips between his, then moving down to her throat. Paige closed her eyes, mumbling his name and feeling him twitch against her thigh. Eager again, Paige hiked a leg up and around his hips, drawing him closer to her.

Walter slid his hand down to her hip, his fingernails lightly digging into her skin, and he dropped his head down, his tongue licking at one of her breasts. "God," Paige whispered into his ear. She put a hand up in his hair, lightly scratching his scalp, and he grunted, sliding the hand under her and lifting her hips slightly as he entered her again.

"Mmm," she hummed into his ear, running her hand up and down his back, slowly, digging her nails in enough to create light streaks on his back but not so hard as to leave lasting marks. He was going deep enough to brush her in just the right spot each time, and it was only a few minutes before each of her exhales were audible. She was still sensitive from earlier; it wouldn't take her much longer. She heard his quiet grunts with each thrust and knew he wouldn't need long either.

"Oh, God," Walter moaned, eliciting another whimpering sound from Paige. He was never silent in the bedroom – in retrospect she found that incredibly weird about Drew – but when he was a little more vocal than usual, Paige found it immeasurably hot. Walter's every thrust was accompanied by a moan now, his pace quickening, and she arced her back, gripping the pillowcase with one hand as the other dug into his back. His name escaped her lips, seven, eight, nine times, and then she was done for, shuddering and pulsing and feeling Walter stiffen further as his body neared its own release. He followed her moments later, and then they lay gasping, arms around each other.

"Did…" Paige sucked in another breath, pressing her cheek to his. "Did I pee?"

Walter lifted his head, looking baffled. "No?"

She giggled at his confusion. "I'm sorry. I just really lost control for a second there and...I sorta peed on Drew once when I was pregnant with Ralph."

"Hmmm." Walter scooted back down the bed, lowering himself and settling between her legs again. Paige put her hand over her mouth when he flattened his tongue and licked straight up her center. "Nope," he said, repeating the motion and licking his lips. "Just you. Mmm." He pushed his tongue between her folds, tracing up and down. Paige let out a sharp breath. God damn, she was lucky. Drew wouldn't have been caught dead down there after sex without a condom.

And none of her previous partners would have been caught dead down there after her story about peeing on a guy. Pregnant or not.

" _Ho_ , Walter," Paige managed, lifting her hips slightly off the mattress. Walter wrapped his arms around her thighs, forcing her back down, his lips and tongue moving with more vigor. Paige began to pant. She was almost ridiculously easy to get this way after her first orgasm of a lovemaking session, especially for someone who had mastered her as well as Walter had.

The sensations he was creating were quickly bringing her to a peak, and Paige pushed up on her hands, her chest heaving as her thighs began to shake. "Oh God…"

Her elbows gave out and her upper body hit the mattress, a loud moan escaping her. He had her almost right to the edge, and her heightened sensitivity made it all seem like too much. Paige rolled half onto her side, her entire upper body facing the wall, and tightly gripped the sheets with both her hands. Walter's arms held her hips in place, his tongue circling rapidly. She hoped the neighbors weren't home. She probably sounded like she was in pain.

She choked out his name, moaning loudly again as she came apart, turning completely onto her stomach as Walter released her hips.. Her body was shaking, tears were in her eyes, and as she came off of her high, she couldn't feel much of anything except exhaustion.

Walter crawled over her, lowering his head and kissing her shoulder blade. "Oh my God," she gasped, looking over her shoulder at him. "How do you  _do_  that?"

"Well," Walter said, "I do have the fifth highest I.Q. ever rec…"

She swatted him.


	13. Chapter 13

"Yo Walt. Paige."

Walter was sitting on the edge of Paige's desk, telling her a story about the people he had run into at the frozen yogurt place that morning. They both turned their heads in the direction of Happy's voice.

"Can the two of you head over here for a sec?"

"Uh, yeah." Paige rose, glancing at Walter. Happy and Toby seemed so…serious. They crossed the room to where the married could stood, next to each other in almost the exact same stance. "What's…what's going on?"

Happy pulled an envelope out of her pocket and handed it to Walter.

"Uh…" Walter said, giving a confused glance at Paige.

"It's a gift," Toby said. "From me and the missus."

"It's actually from me and the mister," Happy said. Her eyes shifted to Toby. "Because it was  _my_  idea."

"W – why?" Walter asked, frowning.

Paige elbowed him, then looked back toward Happy and Toby. "That means thank you." She dropped her voice, looking back at Walter. "Open it."

"Oh. Right." Walter ripped the envelope and pulled out the paper inside. "Reservation for two at…"

"Happy!" Paige exclaimed, putting a hand over her mouth. "This place is so expensive!"

"It's one of the nicest hotels in the area," Toby said.

"We thought you guys could use a change of scenery," Happy said.

"To get it on."

"Toby, I swear to God," Happy said. She looked back at Walter and Paige. "We were thinking that you guys obviously don't have time to go on a vacation, but it would be nice if you guys just had a different place to stay for a night."

Paige smiled at them, then turned to Walter, hoping he would appreciate what Happy and Toby were offering. They'd been doing better at making sure they were still connected during sex, making sure their intimacy was actually intimate. But it would be nice to not be in that bed for a night. They could watch TV without having to think about bothering Ralph, they could eat food in bed and not need to worry about cleaning it up. She could take a long shower and not worry about the water bill. She hadn't even thought about them getting a hotel together – they hadn't done that since early on in their relationship. But now that Happy and Toby had arranged it, Paige wished they could leave right that minute.

Walter glanced at her and smiled before turning back to the others. "Thank you," he said. "But…" A glance back at Paige. "I repeat…why?"

"Because you're our friends," Toby said bluntly. "You guys have done a lot for us. And…" he glanced at Happy. "And the two of us have been through some stuff in the past year that, you know, couples go through problems, and…" he cleared his throat, glancing at Happy again.

"Sometimes when something is bothering people, just a brief break is…important," Happy said. "Just consider this an early anniversary gift."

"Our anniversary is in like…" Walter tipped his head. "Almost seven months."

"Then consider it a very early anniversary gift," Happy said.

"Christmas would have probably made more sense," Toby suggested.

"Who gets their friends a weekend getaway for Christmas?" Happy retorted. "That's an anniversary thing."

"Yes, but when you and your friends have the same anniversary, it makes sense that the gifts be of a similar magnitude," Toby said.

"Well, thanks for giving us a six and a half month heads up so we can save to get you guys fancy hotel reservations," Paige said with a laugh.

"Paige, no," Happy said. "Just let us do this for you. Okay?"

"Can I hug you?"

"Don't push it." Happy had a glint in her eye, so Paige stepped forward and gave her a brief hug.

"Wait," Paige said, pulling back. "When is this reservation for?"

"Don't worry," Toby said. "We've already talked to Ralph. We're going to take him for the next two nights."

Paige linked her arm around Walter's and grinned at him as he smiled at Happy and Toby. "Thank you, you guys," he said after a moment. "Really, this means a lot."

* * *

 

Walter entered the room with a full bucket of ice, marveling again at the size of the room. It seemed as if everything was fancy in this place. The ice machine had just told him to have a great evening.

Paige was standing on the bed, the remote for the television in her hand. When she heard the door click, she turned toward him and grinned. "Walter, can you believe this place?"

Walter chuckled, happy to see her look so excited. Setting the ice bucket down on the countertop, he walked toward the bed. "It is lovely, isn't it?"

"Yes." Paige bounced slightly on the mattress, a big smile still on her face, and when he got close she leapt lightly off the mattress, her hands landing on his shoulders. Before she could fall, she hooked her legs around his waist and hugged him around the neck.

Walter's arms came instinctively around her, and he pressed a kiss to her neck. "I'm glad you're happy."

Paige leaned back slightly. "You are too, right?"

"Well, of course…" Walter cocked his head. "Why?"

"I mean…" Paige appeared hesitant. "You always talk about making me happy and, like, obviously I want us to do things that are fun for us both."

"I'm greatly looking forward to spending all this time with you," Walter said. "But I love you. Of course my favorite part about it is seeing you like this."

"Same to you, fella," Paige said, smiling and biting her lower lip before her eyes fell closed and she leaned in. The corners of Walter's mouth turned up as their lips met.

"Do you, uh," Paige mumbled against his mouth. "Do you want to cuddle and make out?"

"Look at that," Walter said, taking a step forward and laying her down. "Things that are fun for us both."

Paige giggled, scooting up the mattress and wiggling under the covers, and Walter joined her. Some cooking show was on the gigantic television, but it quickly became background noise. Walter slid his arms around Paige as she cuddled close, both of them lying on their sides, and her hands came up to his neck, her thumbs stroking his jawline as their lips met over and over. Walter sighed in contentment in between kisses. His body belonged against hers – it was impossible for something to feel this right by chance. He slid a hand up to her face, kissing her more deeply. Paige gave a quiet moan and scooted even closer to him. "Walter."

"Hmm," he hummed in response, moving his lips to her neck, using his hand to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Paige tipped her head back, allowing him more access, and he trailed kisses up and down, from her ear down to her collarbone. He could hear her breathing grow heavier, and he sucked at her neck, right where it met her shoulder, leaving a mark when his lips released. He blew lightly on the spot, then ran his tongue over it soothingly.

"God yes," Paige breathed, sliding a hand into his hair, and Walter moved his mouth an inch or so to the left, leaving the same small mark, being careful to stay where her clothes would cover the evidence. Once, a few weeks into their relationship – or a month and a half into it, depending on if they counted the time on the island or not – a passionate night had left her horribly embarrassed the next morning when she found she couldn't cover every mark without makeup. But now she trusted that he would be careful. Walter wasn't about to betray that.

Paige tucked her head, telling him she wanted his lips on hers again, and Walter obliged. There were so many places that he loved kissing her, but he'd be lying if he said that her lips weren't his absolute favorite. He caught them between his, a small moan manifesting itself in his throat when her tongue stroked his lower lip. Then her lips were moving slightly lower, her tongue tracing the line that bisected his chin. Walter ran his hand up and down her back slowly, tenderly, wondering if any studies had been done lately that could slow down time.

"You're my whole world," he murmured, pressing his forehead to hers. He thought that he had told her something along these lines before, but he couldn't remember where or when. It didn't matter. She was used to hearing him say the same things to her again and again. She'd even told him before that she loved it.

Paige mumbled something in response, but he couldn't make it out. She slid her arms around his midsection, scooting closer again and throwing a leg over his.

It seemed as if both of them noticed the room growing dark at the same time, because as soon as Walter lifted his head, Paige did too, both of them looking toward the window. "How long have we been at this?" She asked.

Walter glanced at the digital clock on the bedside table. "Almost an hour," he said. "Although it's getting dark out there because it's going to rain."

It didn't rain – at least not hard – often in Southern California, but Walter knew those dark clouds all too well. They were in for a downpour.

"Well," Paige said, "at least we don't have anywhere to be." She sat up, reaching down toward the foot of the bed for the remote. "Want to watch You Can't Afford A Beach House?"

"What?"

"HGTV." She smirked. "You know, the guy who works as a cell phone repair man and his wife who sells culturally appropriative souvenirs at the local wannabe hippie gift shop and they're looking for a three thousand square foot house with four bedrooms and four bathrooms with a view of the ocean and preferably a three car garage?"

Walter rolled his eyes. "Why would I want to watch that when you just summed up every episode so nicely?"

Paige giggled again. God he loved her giggle. She changed the channel, gasping in delight when the exact show she'd just been making fun of was on. Settling back down, she rested her head on his chest, laying on her back with her left shoulder overlapping with his right. Walter wrapped his arms around her waist, tipping his head against hers. He was asleep before the arguing couple even looked at House Number Two.


	14. Chapter 14

“This bed _is_ comfortable,” Paige said, rolling over to face him.

Walter nodded.  He had learned how to sleep in all sorts of places – everyone on Team Scorpion had – but simply being able to fall asleep in a bumpy truck or on cold dirt or in uncomfortable temperatures didn’t mean that sleep was quality.  For good, sound sleep, Walter needed the mattress he lay on to be just so.  This one certainly was, and thankfully he and Paige did not have opposite sleep preferences in terms of mattress firmness.

The rain had probably also helped.  They so rarely had such a storm in this part of California that the rhythmic sound of water drops pelting the roof of the hotel, their window, and the ground outside had lulled them both off early.

“I don’t want to know what Happy and Toby paid for this room.”

“If they wanted us to know, they would have told us,” Walter said.

Paige looked mildly annoyed.  “I know that, Walter.”

“I said something wrong.”

“That was just my way of saying I can’t believe they did this for us.  And I almost feel guilty for accepting it.  Do you understand that?”

He nodded.  “I think so.  But one thing you’ve taught me is…”

“Only one thing?”

“Hush.” Walter smirked.  “I’ve learned from you that it’s good to feel guilty sometimes, because it means you’re in tune with the other people’s feelings.  But sometimes you do have to let go of that, not to be robotic, but to allow people to care about you.  And Happy and Toby know we care about them, and this is just one way of them showing that they care about us.  So it may be easier said than done, but I don’t feel guilty, because I know you and I will pay it forward to them.”

Paige smiled.  “Well look at that.  I’m learning about how to handle feelings from Walter O’Brien.”

“Don’t patronize me, woman.”

Paige giggled.  “You know,” she said, resting a hand on his chest, “I’m finding this perception of yours to be pretty attractive.”

Walter’s eyebrows lifted just a fraction, a smile playing on his lips.  “Hmm, is that so?”

“Yep,” she said softly.  “How long before we have to check out?”

Walter glanced at the bedside radio, the green numbers brightly lit on the display.  “Hour and a half.”

Paige rolled over onto him.  “Perfect,” she said, her voice low, her lips already brushing along his.  Walter slid his arms around to her back, content to kiss her this way for several minutes before rolling onto his side so she lay next to him again.  Immediately, but without rushing, Paige began to undo the button on his night shirt, making it possible for him to pull it over his head, and by the time he’d tossed it to the side, Paige had slipped out of her nightgown, leaving both of them in their underwear.

“We don’t have to do this just because we’re in a nice hotel, you know,” Walter said in between kisses.

“Oh, I know,” she said with a smile, “but Happy and Toby think we’re doing it, and we really shouldn’t disappoint them.”

Walter blinked.  “I’m a bit uncomfortable with your reasoning here,” he said, an amused smirk coming over him when he realized she’d been joking.

Paige giggled, reaching up and running a hand through his hair and sighing happily when he unhooked her bra, and pushed her fully onto her back. He dropped his mouth to one of her breasts, his hand stimulating the other one, and he smiled as he heard Paige’s sharp intake of breath.  Her nails dug into his upper arm and her body shifted beneath him.  “God.”

“Hmmm.”  He circled his tongue around her areola, slowly and counterclockwise, then switched directions, feeling her squirm again.  He flattened his tongue and brushed it over her nipple, the thumb on his other hand mimicking.  Paige moaned, her nails pressing more forcefully into his arm.  Her hips lifted, bumping against his, moaning his name when he rapidly swished his tongue back and forth.  Walter moved his mouth to her other breast, and her hips jerked.

Sitting up, Walter pushed his boxers down his waist and lifted one knee at a time to work them down his calves.  Paige was looking up at him with dark, lustful eyes, and he moved back over her eagerly, aching to feel her around him.  Reaching down, he positioned himself at her entrance and pushed his hips forward, entering her in one motion and beginning to rock slowly back and forth.

Almost immediately, a loud sound rushed through Paige’s lips, and then her hands were on his chest.  “Red light red light red light!”

Walter sat up immediately, backing away, startled at her wide eyes.  “What’s wrong?”

Paige drew in several long breaths and blew them out quickly, something Walter always did when he was trying to ease pain.  Her eyes closed, and when they opened again a moment later, he noticed tears.  “Paige,” he said, his heart pounding, “Paige honey, what’s wrong?  Did I hurt you?  Oh God, I hurt you, didn’t I?”

She shook her head, putting a hand up to her face and covering her eyes with her thumb and pointer finger.  “No.  I mean…” Another long breath.  “I mean yes, but you…” Every breath that she took seemed to take forever.  “You didn’t do…anything.”

“What happened?” He wanted to reach out and touch her, but he was suddenly afraid.  “What made you hurt?”

Paige moved her other hand over her face, covering it completely, then sighed and looked at him.  “I don’t know.  It just hurt.”

Not being able to bear not touching her any longer, Walter placed his hand on her stomach, his thumb rubbing her skin soothingly, and was glad when she didn’t flinch.  “I’m sorry, Love.  I’m so sorry.”

Paige shook her head.  “You didn’t do anything, Walter.  I promise.  Maybe I had a cramp or something.”

“Do you feel better now?”

Paige nodded.  “It went away pretty quickly.”  She took in a deep breath.  “I’m sure it was nothing.”  Reaching for him, she smiled.  “Come here, Love.”

Walter hesitated, not particularly interested in potentially causing her more pain.  He’d lost his erection and felt it would take a lot of effort from both of them for him to get hard again.  “Paige…”  She looked desperate, so he ran his tongue over his lips and crawled back over her, kissing her tenderly on the lips as his hand slid down her stomach.  He slid his fingers along her folds, lubricating them, and circled his thumb around her clit, refraining from touching it.  Paige let out a breath, her sigh becoming a moan as he continued.  Feeling more confident, Walter dropped his hand, slipping a finger down to her entrance and slowly easing it in.

“ _No_.”  The frustrated, pained sound hadn’t even fully escaped Paige’s lips before Walter withdrew the finger, looking down at her with alarm.  Paige was staring back at him, biting on her upper lip, and when she released it he saw blood on her teeth.

“Oh God, honey,” Walter said, settling down next to her and drawing her into his arms as best he could.  “Paige, I’m sorry.”

When she spoke again, Walter could hear her voice breaking as she tried not to cry.  “I don’t know what’s happening.”

Walter slid a hand up to her hair, cradling her head as it rested against the bottom of his rib cage.  “It’s going to be okay,” he said in a low voice, glad she wasn’t laying high enough up to hear how hard his heart was pounding.  “You’re going to be okay.”  His mind raced through what he knew could be causes of painful intercourse, none of which were particularly desirable.  “You’re perfectly okay,” he said, wondering after how many uses did _okay_ become overused.

Paige was shaking, and he could tell from the heat and dampness against his skin that she was crying.  Walter couldn’t remember the last time that his heart hurt like this.  He was just glad that she wasn’t pulling away, rolling over and facing her worries alone.  He never knew what to do in those situations.  At least now, with her clinging to him, Walter knew that his presences must be helping her, at least a little.  “I love you so much,” he whispered, even though he knew she wasn’t doubting it.

“I know,” she whimpered, sliding her arm farther around him.  Careful not to disturb her, Walter reached for the contact pad on the bedside table.  He didn’t know what Happy and Toby had paid for the room, but he was about to find out, because no way in the world where they in any shape to start packing for checkout.


	15. Chapter 15

"Hey, Kid. You okay?"

Walter rolled from his side to his back, groaning from the pain as well as the sun in his eyes.

Cabe's voice came through his earpiece again. "Walter! Walter!"

"Yeah I'm fine," he mumbled, sitting up and shaking his head. "I tried to jump to the other truck and I…I didn't execute that very well."

"Yeah," came Toby's voice, "we all saw that epic fail on the screen up here. But that timeless comedy aside, did you manage to attach the tracking device on the one Beauregard is driving?"

"Oh yeah," Walter said. "It's secure. The forces will know exactly where he picks up the shipment from Johnston and Cooper, and will be on all three of them long before he gets into Arizona. And he has no idea I was even there."

"Perfect," Cabe said. "Good work, Kid. Good work, everyone."

Walter rubbed the back of his neck. He thought back on his attempt to jump from one vehicle to the other and wondered if the leap really had been unrealistic or if he was just distracted. Paige had an appointment with her gynecologist this afternoon, and Walter had offered to go with her. She had said she would see, and he got the impression that she was leaning toward wanting to go alone, but then a case had come in, they could spare Paige but Walter's computer know how was needed, and the point became moot.

Of course the case had become more complicated before long, as they really ought to expect at this point, but no matter. It was done, and they could go home.

Walter got to his feet, wincing slightly. He had rolled an ankle. Fishing his phone out of his pocket, he saw one missed text message. It was from Paige.

_**Out of appointment. Did pelvic exam, went over medical history. They know what it is. Nothing serious. Will explain when I see you.** _

Walter relaxed a little bit at  _nothing serious._  He wished that she would just tell him; he would be anxious until they talked in person now, but at least he didn't have to wait any longer to have a general answer.

_**Sounds good. Case is over. Come to the garage?** _

He began to walk back to where their van was, a little over two blocks away. His ankle started feeling better as he used it, but when his phone buzzed again, he still stopped and rested his leg as he looked at the text.

_**Yeah that's fine. Just don't ask me about it until they've all gone, okay?** _

Walter typed back a quick reply. Toby and Happy were calling an Uber to get to the museum they were going to this afternoon, and Cabe was taking Sly to a township meeting. They would have plenty of privacy.

* * *

Paige was sitting at her desk when Walter entered the garage, staring at her computer screen. "Hey," he said.

"Hey." She didn't look at him, but her voice didn't seem resigned or tired. "The case go okay?"

"Yep," Walter said. "A success, as usual."

She looked at him, smiling, and stood up, walking over to him. "Good."

"Yeah." He kissed her gently. "So what did the doctor say?"

"Yeah," Paige said, taking in a deep breath. "So I have this thing, it's called Secondary Vaginismus. Have you heard of that?"

Walter turned his head slightly to the side. "N – no."

"So I guess really simply, the simple way of explaining it is it's kinda our version of erectile dysfunction. Basically my pelvic floor muscles are tightening, locking up, which makes penetration painful. Kinda like how if I were to try and touch your eye you'd instinctively flinch and look away. At least that's how one of the nurses was trying to explain it. That's what's happening down there."

"How do you…get…that?"

"They aren't really sure. Primary means you've always had it, Secondary is when you used to be fine then it started. It can happen because of trauma, or childbirth, or because of a painful pelvic exam, because of stress or anxiety about sex, and probably other factors, too. It's not uncommon, but often misdiagnosed or underreported, so they still don't know a whole lot about it."

Walter was immediately concerned. " _Are_  you anxious when we're intimate?"

"No." She put her hands on his arms. "No, Walter, I…I guess…I guess maybe a little. But not about  _having_  sex. Just about getting pregnant. It's always at the back of my mind, but I didn't think it was enough to cause some actual problem, and I guess maybe I was wrong. They confirmed what I said though, to you the other day, it's not anything you did."

"Oh, Love." Walter ran the back of his hand over her cheek. "How do they fix this?"

"They told me some exercises I can do to strengthen and retrain the muscles. I could be back to normal in just a couple of weeks. If not, there's therapy, or dilators, or some other stuff they mentioned that I can't remember, gosh, there was so much information." She closed her eyes, suddenly looking very tired. Walter placed his hands on her waist, and she sighed. "I'm just glad it's not something worse. Something serious."

"Me too," Walter said. "Are any of these exercises something I can help with?"

"The first few days are mainly just Kegels," Paige said, "but yeah, after that they said it's sometimes good for the partner to help, because, you know, intimacy, dep…depression…" she looked away.

Walter bit his lip. "Hey, can you look at me?" She hesitated, then did. "This isn't…it isn't something to be ashamed of. It happens. And I'm here to help you in whatever."

"I'm just embarrassed," Paige said, lifting her shoulders. "I know I shouldn't be, but…I don't know. I know if it was you having the problem I'd be desperately trying to make you feel better, but when it's me…"

"When it's you, it's my turn desperately try to make you feel better," Walter said. "That's how relationships work, right?"

She smiled, giving a little chuckle. "I love you."

Walter kissed her forehead.

Paige perked up slightly. "I bought some shoes on the way home, you wanna see them?"

Walter chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Sure."


	16. Chapter 16

Paige lay back against the pillows, which she'd purposefully propped up so she could be in a half sitting position. The bottle of lubricant lay next to her on the mattress.

Walter had asked if she wanted him to be here with her when she moved on to more complex exercises. Her doctor had told her that many women found it helpful and reassuring to have their partners with them. And Paige knew that Walter wasn't just offering because he thought he had to. He genuinely wanted to make this as easy for her as possible.

Maybe she wouldn't be able to do this alone, but she wanted to try. She was already ashamed enough.

 _You're being an idiot,_ she told herself. The doctor had told her that one in five hundred women suffered from either primary or secondary vaginismus in their lives, and that number was probably higher due to under reporting. It was just a physical problem.

But not feeling this way was much easier in theory.  _Just like getting pregnant,_ she thought.

She took the bottle of lube in her hand and aimed, pumping twice. The instructions said to use "a liberal amount." Paige bit her lip, beginning to wish that Walter was in here with her. She was nervous, and that was part of why she had not wanted him there in the first place, but at the end of the day, they were the other's rock. She wanted him near her when she was nervous. But he'd taken Ralph to a museum. She was on her own.

She slid her hand down, coating her fingers in the lube and running her fingers lightly over her folds before circling the skin around her clit, slowly and methodically.

_This won't work if you aren't calm. If you aren't relaxed, how can you expect the vajeeper to relax?_

Vajeeper. God, she needed a new nurse.

She closed her eyes, letting out a long, slow breath. Walter knew her body, but he didn't know it better than her. He could read her response, but he didn't feel what  _caused_ those responses from hers. As much as she loved his fingers, it probably was better that she was doing this herself.

_He can be here to support you without actually taking over the exercises._

"Shut up," she said out loud. Her fingers pressed harder into her skin, moving firmly in the same circle. Paige reached for the lube with her other hand and added more, letting out a long sigh, her hips pushing up against her hand.

She tipped her head back, moaning quietly, swiping her finger slowly over her nerves. She was relaxed now – certainly relaxed enough for the next step. Adding more lube, Paige slipped her hand lower, finding her entrance and pushing one finger inside.

_To the second knuckle._

Paige took in a deep breath and let it out, tightening her Kegel muscles. It was the same exercise she'd been doing for the past four days, except this time with her finger involved.

_Eventually, three fingers will not be uncomfortable. And then you and your boyfriend can try again._

One finger was certainly uncomfortable right now. Paige bit her lip.  _But it's not painful, and that's good, right?_

But uncomfortable was almost as bad. Paige wanted to remove her finger, go take a shower, and then fall asleep and forget about this therapy. "God, why?" She asked, her voice sounding strained as she stared up at the ceiling, continuing to exercise her muscles despite the discomfort. She gasped in relief when she'd hit the maximum repetitions and removed her finger. "Whew," she breathed, letting out another long breath.

The first day of this was over.  _It'll get better,_  she reminded herself. Even when she and Walter got back to having sex, she might be uncomfortable at first. The doctor and nurse both had told her repeatedly that that was normal.

But that didn't mean she wanted it to be that way.

God, why couldn't anything be simple?

* * *

 

"You're being super chatty."

Walter stopped and looked down. "Am I?"

Ralph nodded. "Yeah. I know you're worried about Mom, but you don't have to keep the conversation up to distract me. You never talk this much."

"I talk less when I'm uncomfortable around people. I am very comfortable around you."

"Walter," Ralph said, looking at him with one eyebrow lofted. "You and I both know that natural conversation will have short silences. You're talking through them."

Walter sighed, glancing at the exhibit off to the side. "I'm not trying to distract you. I'm trying to distract myself."

"Oh." Ralph looked down. He hadn't considered that. "I'm sorry." He looked up. "You can keep up the chit chat." He bit his lip. "I'm worried about Mom too, you know."

"The thing she has isn't life threatening at all," Walter said.

"You don't have to call it the thing she has," Ralph said. "The pamphlets were on our table, and I've been reading since I was three. I know it's not life threatening. But I also know she's embarrassed and I don't like when she's unhappy. And this is obviously something that I can't talk to her about."

Walter hunkered down in front of him. "I know the feeling, buddy. She's not even really comfortable talking about it to me. But you know that if she really needs us, she'll reach out in her own way."

"I know." Ralph supposed other 'normals' might find their conversation odd. It was supposed to be the two of them that did things  _in their own way._ But Paige had communication issues just as Walter and Ralph did. Even when she wouldn't talk to Ralph about something, sometimes she would hug him longer, or ruffle his hair more, or ask him if he wanted to watch a movie, her top justification for cuddling him on the couch.

Walter gave him a smile. "You're a good kid, Ralph."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah. Sure."

Ralph hesitated. He knew the answer to this question shouldn't matter – and if he really thought about it, it didn't. But he had always wanted… "are you ever going to marry us?"

He could tell by the look on Walter's face that that hadn't been what the older genius had been expecting. "I'm just…" Ralph blurted, "I just know how much you and my mom love each other, and you want to have a baby, and I know you're already my dad, but…"

Walter looked thoughtful. "I guess…I mean, I won't say I haven't thought about that, it's…it's just we both are so happy with what we have now, I guess I haven't felt like anything is missing."

"You don't have to feel like something is missing to get married," Ralph said. "Toby would probably say it's an unhealthy relationship if you need to get married to feel whole. How you and my mom feel about each other is exactly what is supposed to happen before people get married. I'm sorry," he said, looking at the ground. "I'm being selfish."

"No you're not," Walter said. "It's not something your mom and I have talked about…at least not in detail…but you're a part of this too, you know. If that's something you want, then…"

"Don't get married just because I want you to!" Ralph said, suddenly alarmed. "I don't want to be the reason you guys do something you don't want…"

"Ralph," Walter said, looking amused. "I certainly don't actively not want to marry your mom. Okay? I would in a heartbeat. I wouldn't even mind the vows, because there are few things I like talking about more than how much I love her. Just because we haven't yet doesn't mean it isn't something we both want, eventually. And in our case, it's not just about us. You're here. And if she and I get married, then you're officially my step son. And thinking about it from that angle, I'm terribly upset that you aren't already." He smiled again. "And I think we need to do something about that."


	17. Chapter 17

"Do you want to see my new shoes?"

Walter looked at her almost suspiciously. Paige supposed she'd been using that to deflect a serious conversation on a semi regular basis lately.

But he played along. For all his stumbles at the start of their relationship, he really had become good at knowing when to just play along. And, well, she was pretty excited about these new shoes. She had even picked a wider heel than she was normally a fan of, so she could still wear them while pregnant and off balance.  _See, Walter? I'm being optimistic._

"How are your exercises going?" Walter asked when she was putting the heels back in the box.

Paige sighed internally. Of course he would still bring it up. She reminded herself that he only being caring. "They're fine, I guess."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I mean…they're a pain, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?"

Walter frowned. "Didn't they say to back off if you're still in pain?"

"No, not…they don't hurt. They're just uncomfortable. Like you know how when you get a pap smear and they…you don't know." Paige stopped herself and shook her head at her own fail. "You don't have a cervix."

Walter's eyebrows lifted in amusement. "No. No, I do not."

"And I've been feeling tired after I do them. Which is so weird, I mean I'm essentially just tightening my muscles around my fingers. I do that when we're intimate all the time. But this damn vaginismus has just made everything…I have to retrain muscles that I don't recall ever actually training in the first place. And it's a bitch."

Walter smiled sympathetically. "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

Paige walked around the coffee table and flopped down beside him on the couch. "I hate it."

He put his arm around her. "I wish I could help you, somehow."

She smiled. "Sometimes a part of me thinks I would get less frustrated if you were there when I was doing them. But then I feel like maybe I would get more frustrated, because I hate when anyone sees me struggling. Especially people I love. I spent most of my life being strong, I always try to hide it when I'm in a weak moment."

"You and me both, you know. And we've both made incredible progress in letting people in."

She nodded. "I know." She scooted closer, snuggling against him and burrowing her head into his neck.

* * *

Walter was glad when, the day after Paige's admission that she wasn't sure if him being with her when she did her exercises would make things better or worse, she asked him to help her find out.

So now they lay in their bed, her on her back, and him on his side next to her. His shirt was off – she'd given him a slightly odd look when he'd removed it, not understanding – because he figured that she would be more comfortable if they were both only partially clothed.

Paige's hand rested on the soft skin between her hip bones. "Walter, this is weird."

"No it isn't," Walter said. "I've seen you doing basically this."

"Yeah, but this isn't sexy." She slid her hand between her legs, biting the left side of her lower lip and looking at him.

"Your eyes are lovely," Walter said in a low voice. "Have I told you that before?"

He saw her face flush. "Walter," she said.

"What?" He smiled. "I love your eyes. I always like to know where I am, but when I get lost in your eyes, I wouldn't mind staying lost."

He could tell by the look on her face that he was saying things right. She smiled and looked away briefly before reconnecting with him. "You're really getting like this when I'm doing Kegels around my index finger?"

"Your eyes are beautiful no matter what you are doing." Walter noticed how relaxed her posture was, and he felt slightly triumphant. Nothing he was saying was a lie, of course, but he was glad that he seemed to be making this less stressful for her. He saw her hand shift as she added a second finger. "How does that feel?" He asked.

He saw her attempt to shrug – difficult when laying on her back. "Fine, I suppose. Doesn't hurt."

"Good," he said encouragingly. "Good."

She awkwardly shrugged a second time. "This is my fifth day with two fingers. The real test will be when I use three. Because once that's comfortable, you and I can try again."

"Three fingers aren't too many?" Walter asked. He had never used more than two with her.

"Oh no, of course it's not too many," Paige said, a glint in her eye. "Most people have ten, after all."

Walter rolled his eyes. "The reason I stay with you," he said. "The terrible jokes."

"This coming from a guy who laughed for like an hour at Toby's HB Ocean joke on the island."

"I was sleep deprived."

"So was I. I didn't laugh."

"And that hurt his feelings, if I recall."

Paige rolled her eyes, lolling her head back and forth on the pillow as she laughed. "Whatever, Walter."

* * *

After her exercise, Paige went into the bathroom to take a shower. She always either showered or napped right afterwards.

She'd offered to pleasure Walter with her mouth when she was done with her exercises, and as she knew he would, he turned her down. He didn't generally feel guilty about it, even if she wasn't in the mood for him to reciprocate, she knew that. But this, he said, was different, because she wasn't well. Paige supposed she should just be appreciative of his thoughtfulness. After all, her libido hadn't gone dormant because her vagina wasn't behaving. She just didn't really have any fulfilling ways of doing anything about it.

And she knew it was the same for Walter. She would catch him looking at her sometimes, when they were alone at the garage, and more often at home, in instances when they almost certainly would have fallen onto the bed or couch or floor had the circumstances been different. She knew he had to be at least a little frustrated, and she was sure that he was doing his best for her not to pick up on it. She couldn't let him know that she had. He would feel terrible.

Paige set her jaw. She was trying three fingers tomorrow. If it didn't work, it didn't work, but she needed to try. She still wanted a baby, but for the moment, pregnancy would have to be an afterthought. Right now, she had to focus on getting her life as it was now back on track.


	18. Chapter 18

The doctor's words rang in Paige's ears. Well, at least the last words that were important.

_Yes. If you feel ready._

She kept the words to herself all through the final hour of work, largely because Sylvester stayed late with them to catch up on some of his other duties, and still through dinner. But when Ralph settled in to bed, and she saw the tiny glow under his door that told her he was on his laptop finally went out, she turned to Walter. "I want us to make love tonight."

Walter looked hesitant, which she expected, and she put a hand on his cheek. "My exercises are going well, as you know." The first day of three fingers had been rough, tiring and even a little embarrassing to attempt in front of Walter. But the next two days had been much better. She was still slightly uncomfortable down there, but hey, she'd never been much of a three finger woman anyway.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

"No," Paige said softly. "But I want to try. That's the only way we'll know, and the doctor says that it's okay." She bit her lip. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Me?"

"Yeah. I mean…" Paige hoped her cheeks weren't getting pink. This was not a topic that she should feel shy about bringing up given their extensive history. "You can kinda get all caught up in your head when you're worrying about me."

"Oh." Walter lifted his eyebrows slightly. "I can assure you that that won't be a problem."

She smiled, her lower lip still under her teeth. "Good."

Walter cupped her hips in his hands, stepping the miniscule distance that separated them, and Paige closed her eyes and tipped her head as he went in for the kiss.

Kissing had always been important to them, and in the earliest days of their relationship, when they were stranded and couldn't do much more, many kisses had been stolen during the nights, under the blankets they had shared with Ralph. These past few weeks had been much more of the same, kissing and hand holding, making sure the rest of their intimacy didn't go ignored just because there was one thing they couldn't do and a few more that they wouldn't.

"Let's go to bed," Paige whispered, feeling him hard and insistent against her lower belly. Walter mumbled something in response, but she didn't catch it, and was too busy grabbing his hand and walking toward their room to ask him to repeat it.

Their room.

At some point in the last few months, he had essentially moved in.

Huh.

Paige dropped onto the bed and scooted up towards the pillows, glad that both she and Walter were already in minimal clothing. She wore just a nightgown, he just an old tee shirt and his boxers. And it wasn't more than a minute or two before her nightgown was pooled on the floor next to her side of the bed and his shirt lay at the same spot on the other side.

"We will need to use lube," she said. "Just as an extra precaution."

"We still have some?"

"Yeah. Like a third of a bottle. It's going to be fine, I just don't want…any excuses."

Walter kissed her again. "Whatever you need."

"It's in the drawer next to you." She made a motion with her head in the direction, and Walter reached over, fiddling with the drawer before pulling out the bottle and setting it on the mattress.

"How do you want to do this?" He asked.

Paige cocked her head slightly to the side. "Uh…probably me on top." Part of her wanted to be on her back, like she was when her problems started, but she knew it was better that she have control. "Just so I can set the boundaries."

Walter nodded. "Good idea." He rolled onto his back, scooting to the middle of the bed. Paige crawled over him, leaning down to brush her lips across his before reaching down and tugging at his boxers. Walter shifted again, helping her move them down. Paige shifted backward and settled down between his thighs, taking him in her hand and kissing from the bottom of his shaft to the top, then running the tip of her tongue along the same path. Walter grunted, his hips jerking slightly. Paige smiled her herself as she wrapped her lips around him and swirled her tongue before lowering her head and taking him in. She knew how to draw this out and she knew how to make his head spin quickly, but today she knew it wouldn't take much. Sliding her hand down to massage him underneath, Paige hollowed out her cheeks as she came back up, pausing for only a moment before falling into more of a regular rhythm. She could see Walter's hand curl around the comforter as his breathing increased.

She turned her head, locking her lips around him sideways and rubbing her tongue rapidly against the sensitive skin just below his head, and Walter's hips jerked and she heard her name. When she resumed wrapping her lips around his shaft, his moans grew louder, higher in pitch, and Paige kept on for a few more seconds before lifting her head and crawling back over him, putting her lips fiercely on his and lowering her hips until he was pressing against her entrance. Straightening up, she handed Walter the bottle of lube and waiting until she figured he was sufficiently prepared for her. She took him in her hand and positioned herself, sinking partway down and stopping, taking in a deep breath.

"You okay?" Walter asked immediately, looking up at her with concern.

Paige wasn't sure how to answer him. She wasn't spasming like she had the last time they tried this. But her body hadn't even protested him this much the first night they were intimate, when she hadn't been sexually active in years. "I will be," she said, moving her hips in a slow circular motion, trying to give her body time.

Walter's jaw was set and she saw the muscles in his abdomen clench as she moved. Paige felt horrible for going so slow. Both of them had been going crazy for each other for days now and she was sure if things were different he would be more aggressive, would want a faster pace. "I'm sorry," she blurted, closing her eyes.

"No," Walter said, his hands stroking her thighs lightly. "Take your time."

Paige placed her hands on his chest and began to move up and down, slowly and deliberately. After a few thrusts, she stopped, pointing across the bed at the bottle of lube. Walter grabbed it, and she lifted up off of him, watching as he applied more and then settling onto him again.

The pace remained slow, Walter keeping his hips down and allowing her to control everything. Paige knew she wasn't going to finish tonight – even before she'd drawn him almost to the brink – but this was nice. It didn't hurt. It even felt kind of good. And that was better than she'd expected this to go.

It was only a few minutes before Walter's nails were digging into her skin, and his moans were back to the same high pitch from earlier that told her that he was teetering right on the edge.

"Paige," Walter managed, his abs clenching and his voice hoarse. "I'm so close. I'm so close."

She kept up the same slow pace for another few thrusts, then suddenly sank down on him more quickly, twice in a row, and that was enough. Walter's hips jerked up to hers and he groaned, his fingers flexing on her hips as his head fell back against the pillow, his eyes falling closed. Paige moved on him a couple more times, slowly again, then stilled with him still inside her, reaching over to run her hand tenderly over his chest. "I love you," she breathed, leaning forward and moving her caress to his face. "I love you."

"Paige," he managed, pressing his cheek against her hand.

She lifted off of him, bending to kiss his stomach a couple of times before swinging her leg over, settling back down on her side next to him. He tipped his head to look at her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, smiling, grateful that she had a partner who could be so concerned for her in moments like this. "Yeah. I'm fine."

He rolled onto his side to face her, resting a hand on her hip. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," she said. "Progress. I'm getting back to normal." Her smile grew wider. "I'm going to be okay."

Walter smiled back at her. "Good. Good." He kissed her, and her eyes fell closed, sighing happily and reaching over to cup his face. She knew it would be a while before things felt completely normal again, but she hoped Walter wouldn't want to talk about tonight much, because she thought she just might cry from relief at how big of a step this was.

She didn't know how long they'd kissed before Walter's hand began stroking her hip, sliding it under her thigh and pushing against her skin, trying to push her upwards. She broke the kiss, shaking her head. "Walter, it's okay."

"I know," he said, putting his lips back on hers. "But," he said between kisses, "weren't you the one who told me…that this should just be…about…enjoying ourselves? And not about a…specific end result?" His voice dropped, as did his lips, moving to her neck.

"And tonight was lovely," she said. "You don't need to worry about me. It's not going to happen tonight."

"Let me taste you, Paige," he mumbled, sounding almost desperate. "It's felt like forever."

"God," she moaned at his words, curling her fingers through his hair, desire shooting right back through her as she realized this was exactly what he meant. It didn't matter to him that he wouldn't be able to send her to another dimension. He would dance her in the stars as long as she wanted. She felt him smile against her skin as he kissed his way to her chest, placing kisses on both her breasts as she rolled onto her back, shifting her legs apart.

Walter placed open mouth kisses on the inside of her thigh, his tongue flicking against the soft skin. "You still okay?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "Just no fingers, okay?"

"Mmm hmm."

Paige closed her eyes when he moved to where she wanted him, and she whimpered when he groaned against her. "God, Paige," he murmured, his tongue flattening and brushing over her.

"Oh, Walter," she breathed, her hands sliding up into her hair as her hips flexed against him.


	19. Chapter 19

"Walter, I swear to God, you're not supposed to be doing stairs."

"The doctor did not say no stairs," Walter reminded her, limping back over to his desk. "She said not to do overexert myself and not to cause myself unnecessary discomfort. It's been over twenty – four hours now and stairs don't hurt any more than walking does. I'm more sore than anything else."

"You know she's going to want to baby you until you're back to normal," Happy said. "Don't let her, Walt. We gotta be strong against those two."

"Happy," Paige said, "you have a bruise the size of a baseball on your face. Of course Toby is going to be concerned."

"I'm on medication that makes me bruise easily. It looks a lot worse than it is." Happy looked at Walter. "See? I have to deal with mine and yours. You're lucky. Doc doesn't try to coddle you too."

"Happy!" Toby popped his head in the garage's front door. "C'mon, car is running. And your pain meds are in there and you're scheduled to take them in ten minutes."

Happy rolled her eyes. "Yes, dear," she said pointedly.

"Aw, come on, my sweet. Kovelsky's will have our order ready in twenty minutes. And Sly is being terrible at conversation."

"Coming," Happy said, grabbing her bag. "But ask me how my bruise feels again and I'll give you personal experience in the matter."

"Is it bad that that turned me on a little bit?" Toby asked as approached him.

"Yes," chorused Paige, Walter, and the mechanic in unison.

"Anyone else want in?" Toby asked, still peering around the door. "We got one seat left, and we all know that whoever isn't in the car is going to miss out on those yummy crackers they give us in the to go bags."

"Sorry, can't," Cabe said. "Allie's folks got an earlier flight, and now that we're back from Latvia, I'm able to go with her to pick them up. So I'm headed out for the day."

"And it's only twelve o'clock," Toby said, shaking his head.

"I've been with you clowns for the past sixty hours. Sorry if Allie is a little more appealing than crackers right now."

"Allie and the future in – laws," Toby said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"You hush up."

"Paige? Walt? Either of you want in on the crackers?"

Paige was half tempted. Toby always scarfed down the crackers before they got home.

"We do have a lot of paperwork to get done," Walter said. "We should probably get a start on that so we don't have to get home late, since we haven't even  _been_  home since Monday."

"Fine. Be lame. More crackers for me."

Paige chuckled when the behaviorist shrugged and disappeared, the door clicking shut shortly afterward, then turned to her paperwork. It wasn't the most she ever had after a case, but any jobs that required staying overnight in another country had extra hoops for her to jump through with Homeland.

"Want to go up on the roof?" Walter asked. "We've had a pretty crazy couple of days, and I don't know about you, but I'd like us to have a little bit of time just the two of us before the rest of them get back from Kovelsky's."

"I thought you said that we had all this paperwork to do."

"It was a clever ruse to get you alone."

She rolled her eyes. "The roof means more stairs, and you…"

He walked over and put a finger over her lips. "No more about the stairs."

"You, uh, you sure you don't want to just go over to the couch, and…"

"No," Walter said. Paige was a little disappointed. They'd only been able to be intimate once more since their first attempt post vaginismus, and that second time was much easier and more enjoyable for her. They had another case before this one, the two very nearly overlapping, and she wanted to wind down and see how the next time would go.

He held out his hand. "Come on."

She walked with him to the stairs, watching his step as they ascended. He was limping, that much was clear, but she had to admit that it didn't really seem much worse on the stairs.

Upon reaching the roof, he held the door for her, and almost immediately she understood why he wanted to be up here. All they had been doing in the past three days was work, and the ground floor of the garage was also very much a work environment. Up here, things were more casual. And for being in Los Angeles, up here was quiet.

Paige slid her arm around Walter's back, feeling his come to rest on her shoulders. She leaned her head against him. "It's so good to be home," she said.

"I agree." He squeezed her shoulder. "It's nice."

"Is it bad that I'm not really interested in having a big dinner tonight?" Paige asked. "With the rest of the group, I mean. I just want to get the paperwork done and go back home. I miss Ralph. And I miss my own bed. Our own bed." She'd taken a pregnancy test while they were in Latvia, hoping that perhaps their resuming sexual activity, however recent ago, would finally result in success. It had been negative.

"It's funny how just a few days in a different place can leave one so homesick."

"It's different on cases," Paige said. "Because we can never enjoy where we are. I'd love to go on a vacation sometime. But it's always so complicated with Ralph. I want family vacations with all of us, but I also want to go somewhere really romantic, like that hotel Happy and Toby put us up in, but for like, a week, where we can just be together…" she turned toward him, wrapping both of her arms around one of his. "Alone."

"Hmm. You know," Walter said. "What you said about the family vacations, though. It's something I want to talk to you about."

"Oh yeah?" Paige straightened up. "Walter, you just got really serious looking."

"Because I'm serious about this. About us. I know…I know you know that, I mean, we're trying to have a baby and all. But you and I, we make each other so much better. Sometimes I still can't believe that I get to be your boyfriend, but on the other hand I can't imagine any other outcome because there is no way that, somehow, we weren't  _supposed_  to be together. Like we came from the same part of the explosion that started the universe."

Paige smiled, feeling warm inside. "That's so sweet," she said softly.

"I, uh…I talked to Ralph a couple of weeks ago, and I'm disappointed that I was injured in Latvia because while stairs are fine, I think trying to lower myself down would be considered strenuous activity. But, uh…" He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small, shiny object, offering it to her. "Will you marry me, Love?"

Paige blinked in surprise, but the emotion quickly caught up to her. She grinned at Walter, sliding her hand up to the back of his neck and pressing her lips against his. "Of course, you idiot."

Walter grinned back, sliding the ring onto her hand. Paige looked down at it. The ring was beautiful, but not at all what she'd envisioned her engagement ring might look like. But Walter wasn't at all the type of person that she'd grown up believing she would spend her forever with, and like him, the ring was absolutely perfect.


	20. Chapter 20

Walter grumbled to himself as he got into his car and pulled out of the obnoxiously small parking lot.  It didn’t make sense.  This place was connected to an emergency room.  People probably came flying in here all the time.  Why would they make it so twisty?  It really ought to be a straight shot.  There could be accidents that would exacerbate an already serious injury.  And would the hospital technically be liable?  He supposed not.  But he could see where someone might make a case.

Paige would tell him he was just grumpy that it took him a couple of weeks for his injury to fully heal – and then she would blame the stairs. 

“It’s not me being grumpy,” he muttered, even though she wasn’t there.  “It’s efficiency.  Practically the first thing you ever learned about me was how important efficiency is.”

Traffic was light, and it only took about ten minutes for Walter to get to the intersection where he would turn left to go to the garage, or right to go to the condo.  It occurred to him that they still hadn’t officially decided to live together, but at least now he had a pretty good feeling about Paige’s thoughts on that.  She had, just late last month, agreed to spend the rest of her life with him, after all.

The thought made him turn right.  There was probably something to get done at the garage, but only Happy had plans to be there that day, and Walter was fairly sure whatever she was working on, she wouldn’t need any assistance.  Ralph was still at school for another three hours, but Paige would probably be at home.

He turned right.  Left turns were more complicated anyway.

Maybe it was fitting that turning right led to Paige.  As complicated as their lives had been for so long, somewhere along the line it all became simple.  They loved each other.  They were where the other belonged.  And as Ralph had said the day he’d asked about his mom and Walter marrying, they were simple.  Not easy, but simple nonetheless.

Walter shook his head.  It still surprised him when he thought along lines like that.  He never would have prior to meeting his girlf…his fiancé.  Making comparisons like that were things that normal people did.  And he wasn’t normal.

But their lives were finally back to normal.  The night they’d gotten engaged was the first night in over a month that they had been intimate when Paige was in no discomfort whatsoever.  Sure, her pregnancy test that she’d taken the day before that, in Latvia, had been negative, but now that she was okay, they could get back to it.  He just hoped she wouldn’t become discouraged again.  He wanted a baby as badly as she did, but he knew she took the repeated failures to conceive harder of the two of them.

Well, she was feeling better now, and her fertility calendar certainly wasn’t at the lowest point today.  They could try to get pregnant all afternoon.

His hunch was correct; Paige’s car was in the driveway.  Walter parallel parked in his usual spot on the street.

“Hey,” he said in greeting as he entered the front door, dropping his keys in the bowl.  Paige was sitting at the kitchen table, reading a cooking magazine.  She looked up and smiled at him.  “Hey.  How was your appointment?”

“I’ve got full mobility back, so that’s good,” he said.  “You looking for new recipes?”

“Well, you know, with all the time I have to cook,” she joked.  “Honestly I got like a three year subscription to this when I was working at Elia’s company, you know, one of those hey – I – have – more – money – so – that’s – cool purchases, and it’s just about to run out now so even though I haven’t actually read any issues of it in over a year I figured hey, better take advantage.”

“Seems solid to me,” Walter said, nodding.  “How has your day been otherwise?  I mean, in the couple hours since I saw you.”

“Pretty good, actually.  Can I show you a new pair of shoes that I bought today?” She asked.

“You know, you’re going to put us in the poor house if you keep buying shoes,” Walter said.

Paige rolled her eyes.  “Can I just show you?  I actually think you’ll like them.”

“Fine,” he said, smirking in amusement.

Paige picked up a box and set it on the table.  Walter cocked his head.  He recognized that box, or at least he thought he did.  “Aren’t those the same shoe you bought when you were doing your exercises?  Or basically the same pair?  What are you even going to do with those?” He was annoyed at himself as soon as the words came out of his mouth.  It wasn’t as if they were hurting financially.  And Paige was the last person in the world who deserved a lecture on fiscal responsibility.  He cleared his throat.  “But I know I buy old laptops to refurbish, so I guess I can’t blame you.”

The Paige that had been in his head earlier had been right when she’d told him that he was grumpy about his injury not healing as fast as he’d predicted.

“I promise you’ll like these,” she insisted, lifting the lid and reaching inside.  When her hand reappeared, she was holding the shoes, but they weren’t the shoes pictured on the size of the box.  They were a different color.  And they were smaller.

Much, much, smaller.

Walter stared at the tiny shoes, confused for only a moment before looking up at Paige to see the smile that she was trying to hide.  “Oh my God.”

The smile broke out over her face.

“Really?” Walter asked, walking around the table even before she nodded.  Paige dropped the tiny shoes back into the box as he reached her and wrapped her up in his arms, holding her tighter than he’d previously thought possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone who came along for this ride. To everyone who reviewed, favorited, followed, endured my countless attempts at writing smut that left me crying from sheer embarrassment afterward, and who chatted with me via message about it. Thank you for going on this journey with me and with Waige.
> 
> I will be marking this fic as complete in a few days. I just didn't want to at the initial publication to spoil the surprise. And I may throw in an epilogue – if I do, I already know what it will be – but I haven't decided yet. I kinda like it ending like this.


End file.
